History Isn't Always
by Moghedian
Summary: set in stone. Naruto has lost everything and just wants to end it, but when Plan B comes into effect, and altered by a little nine tailed chakra, everything goes horribly wrong, or possibly horribly right, depending on how you look at it. Minor Pairings
1. Death is Naruto's Best Friend

Chapter One

* * *

A certain blonde rubbed a tired hand across his face, further rubbing in the smudges of dirt, grime, and sweat into his face. After a few moments of silence, the woman beside him collapsed in bitter sobs, and he gave someone he had once called a friend one final glance before zipping the black bag over his pale face.

He didn't pause to comfort the crying woman on the floor for more than one reason, but the main one was that he was to show no weakness, no emotions, nothing. And he was good at it. The sobs of the forlorn woman echoed out and down the hallway, following the blonde out of the makeshift morgue that used to be a basement of one of the larger buildings where the old Uchiha compound used to be.

In another building, small and inconspicuous amid the ruins of old manors and houses, a small girl with her dark hair pulled from her face with a white ribbon ran out from a door that teetered on the edge of falling off, and rocketed herself into the blonde's legs. He smiled, his eyes warming up for this person and this person only. The girl unfurled her fists from his dirty pants and grinned toothily up at him. Her two front teeth were missing and her dress was in tatters.

"Papa! Welcome home!" Naruto flashed a foxy grin at his daughter, hefting her up and swinging her around once or twice before embracing her. The girl squealed with laughter and tangled her fingers in her father's hair. This was their 'Naruto's done his work for the day' ritual that they had kept up everyday that he was able to come home for the night.

Placing his daughter down, he glanced up at the woman watching them. He put his goofy smile on and pushed her in the woman's direction.

"Hinata-chan, go inside and play with the other children, me and Sakura-chan have grownup things to discus." Hinata pouted, her lavender eyes flashed in the sunset's light, and for a brief second, he saw a different Hinata. Pain lanced through his chest and a burning feeling scratched the back of his mostly blue eyes. He gave the little girl another push, hard enough to unbalance her this time, and Hinata squealed and laughed as Naruto made motions of chasing her. She disappeared in through the shoddy door and joined more sets of childish laughter.

Sakura watched her go, and after a second called after her,

"Hina, dinner's at 8!" Naruto vaguely heard her respond, through the wood and aluminium that made the siding to the houses. Sakura smiled softly, not just at the girl's actions, but that she had made Naruto smile a true smile. That was a notable feat these days. Even getting him to fake a smile was hard since that fateful day.

Pink hair flashing in the dying sunlight, Sakura moved forward, embracing the blonde. Naruto, although he wouldn't admit it, was a little shocked. Sakura's hugs were far and few between. Something bad must have happened. He wanted to embrace the warm feelings that arose for the now quiet woman, but he quickly pushed them down, hoping they would disappear quickly. Although he loved Sakura with all of his heart, the love was just little more than he would love a sister. A few feelings and a few dreams here and there was the only difference. Or at least he thought, anyway. He never had any siblings other than the ones he had adopted over the years.

He could feel Sakura's gentle but firm fingers trace up his back in slow soothing circles. She buried her face in his neck staring fixedly at his dull green pendant he had received from her mentor, and the closest thing he had to a mother many years prior. Her heart panged painfully in her chest for the man in front of her. On one side of the complicated plate that was Haruno Sakura's life she still, after all of these years, her heart pined for Sasuke. She knew it was stupid, fruitless, and futile to even dwell on such thoughts, but what girl could ever forget their first love? And what a love it was. Stealing away from missions to sneak a kiss here and there, and when Sasuke finally died, her heart had been utterly broken. Maybe had he died from a different set of hands it would have been different, but no one could even relate to Sakura as she shakily told the leader of her team how Sasuke had wiped her tears with a bloody hand after she had slid her blade into his heart.

Moving her torso so her chest pressed against Naruto's flak vest she stared straight into his broken and cold eyes. They usually reminded her of icicles, unforgiving and dead, but as she stared at them from such a close distance, picking out the flecks and streaks of red, they almost seemed to warm for her. She closed the distance between them and pressed her lips against his, gently at first, but again with increasing hunger. She vaguely felt one of his hands gently make it's way through her long hair, and his other hand pressing the small of her back closer to him.

Naruto's initial surprise was quickly forgotten as the feelings he had tried to bury arose in his chest with a passion as strong as ever. The feel of her lips, cracked and chapped against his was foreign and alien almost. The feeling of her heart racing so hard he could feel it down her spine through his fingertips only served to excite his own heart into beating faster and faster, causing a small rumble at the back of his mind, vaguely reminding Naruto that he was disturbing Kyuubi no Yoko's precious beauty sleep.

He ran his fingers through her long silky hair, memorizing the way it was sliding over and through his fingers, and how it left the scent of strawberries and peaches behind. Pushing the small ball of resentment, denial, and nervousness down into oblivion, Naruto and Sakura found themselves stumbling through a worn and poorly lit hall into an equally worn and poorly lit room. The room was small and dingy, peeling paint and a weathered wood floor that showed every knot and spit. A picture frame with no glass, as it had long been broken, and a small candle decorated the only table, which was actually just an overturned box, in the room. Sakura gave Naruto a small grin that revealed nothing about her, but promised everything.

Naruto pinned her against the wall, making the wood groan in protest as he tugged down the zipper of Sakura's red top as she practically ripped his vest off. Lucky for her today was a hot day and after hastily throwing his vest away she was graced with the sight of his, surprisingly, scarred chest, well toned and gleaming with sweat. His bad luck necklace was gleaming dully in the flickering candlelight of Sakura's humble abode.

Placing kiss after kiss down Sakura's neck and collar bone, Sakura groaned partly from pleasure and partly from frustration. She grabbed Naruto's hair and practically threw him over, causing him to tumble over onto her futon, knocked the candle over off the box-table as well. The candle snuffed out as soon as it landed, surrounding the pair in darkness and Sakura gave a grin so wide Naruto swore he could _hear_ it. A cool shiver ran down his spine and the blonde grinned just as wide as the pink haired beauty descended on top of him.

* * *

Years and years prior when Akatsuki still roamed the lands striking terror in men and woman across the world Naruto had been a happier person. Not that he was one to be defeated by depression. Not even when Jiraiya had died had he backed down. No, he got right back up, trained harder than he had ever in his life, and stood back and watched the fruits of his labour as he took out the Paths of Pein one by one with relative ease, compared to other shinobi anyway.

Coming back to Konoha when it had been completely destroyed had been a huge blow to his self. Konoha was his home, and although there were times when he didn't feel all that welcome in it, it was his and it was staying like that. In that battle he had lost a few people dear to his heart despite Tsunade's best attempts to save the villagers.

But he wasn't completely disheartened. Sure, Konoha had been destroyed, but it was just a collection of houses and things. His friends were alive and that was the most important thing. They could build another village any day. All they had to do was defeat Pein and start picking their lives up. If only it were that easy.

The last path of Pein, a fellow student of Jiraiya, as he had found out proved to be extremely difficult to defeat, and when he finally did, another friend and precious person had been claimed by the tyrant's wake of death. It was sad for a while, but he picked his life up, trained even harder. He knew, from reading Jiraiya's notes about the Paths of Pein, that the original, the puppet master himself, was not dead. He was probably not even in the vicinity. So he made sure to destroy the chakra receptors to delay him. To give him enough to time to train even harder. He wouldn't know it until someone had pointed it out to him later, but at the tender age of 18, after two years of training for the final battle with whomever was behind the Peins, he had far surpassed Jiraiya in skill and power. He could defeat Rock Lee with his hands tied behind his back in a battle of taijutsu, he could utterly wipe Kiba with Ninjutsu, but Kurenai and Sakura both could still make Naruto think his head was on fire. He'd have to hope that the final Pein wouldn't resort to genjutsu.

In the two years before his final confrontation, Konoha had been partly rebuilt, civilians cramped themselves together on one side of the Hokage monument, which thankfully suffered little to no damage, and the Shinobi had taken residence near, in, and around the old Uchiha residence, which was relative untouched. Most casually thanked the Uchiha's for being snobs and building the compound as far as possible from the village gates. The last remaining Uchiha had not been too pleased at this recent development. He was angry about Konoha being destroyed before he could get there to destroy it himself, but he was even angrier that everyone had taken residence in his old home. He grit it his teeth as watched ninja bustling in and out of the buildings, stepping on his sacred grounds, and in a way, invading his personal space.

His revenge on Konoha, although not carried out by his person, was complete, and with that, he dropped everything and left, popping by occasionally to clash with Konoha bounty hunters, hunter nin, and Naruto. Although he took his main reason for ever even being in the vicinity in the first place to the grave with him.

The final raging battle between the puppet master, who turned out to be a weak and frail man by the name of Yahiko seemed like a joke. In the beginning at least. When he unleased a jutsu that had the effect of a bomb, similar to the one that one of the Pein's had let go on Konoha 2 years prior, and brought the population from a thriving ten thousand people to a meagre 200, Naruto went beserk. That was the first and last time Naruto had ever reached a fifth tail. After that battle most of the new Konoha was nothing but rubble, and every single person in the village looked at him with nothing but fear in their eyes for a very long time. All but one person.

It was odd, in a sense, that the death of nearly everyone in the village had been the spark to bring Naruto and the ever shy, but strong and capable kunoichi together. She had lost her entire family save Neji, and a distant cousin whose name she couldn't even recall at the time. Lee had died in that attack, along with Chouji, Kurenai and her son, Kiba and his entire family, Konohamaru and his two friends, the Ichiraku chefs, and Sai and Ino, whose bodies were found under a collapsed building, still clutching hands tight in death's merciless grasp.

Hinata, at first, had avoided him, but not out of fear, she had felt that showing the weakness the loss of everyone dear to her save a few were only to be shown to Shino, whose shoulder she cried on frequently. But eventually, Naruto found that when he looked at her, she didn't flinch, and she held no hate and no fear in her eyes when he caught himself gazing into them. It intrigued him and one thing led to another. Akatsuki was gone, Orochimaru and Kabuto were both long dead, and Sasuke didn't even pose a threat anymore. His frequent drop by's were becoming more and more like teasing, a "nah nah you can't catch me" kind of thing.

Hinata and Naruto never really made anything official, but the look on Naruto's face when Hinata announced that she was with child was the happiest Sakura had seen Naruto in a long, long time. Oddly enough, it was also the most scared she had ever seen him. The pink haired medic nin, now revered as a goddess among people for her skills in the medic area, the only one left who could heal anyway, wasn't even sure if the couple knew she was in the room at the time. Ever since she had put a blade through Sasuke's heart, through her own heart, she had become a wall flower. Shutting herself away, locking her heart up and throwing the key away. Few were concerned. As long as she wasn't self mutilating and still healing, rebuilding the pathetically small village came first.

Civilian families with relatives outside of Konoha left, reducing the population more. Only Shinobi, still loyal to the ever weakening Tsunade, who had barely survived the last attack that left her chakra system so weak she was useless to heal and fight, had stayed. Some civilian families with no where to go had stayed, and had been trained to fight, with only the elderly spared the rigorous training. Soon, the small population of Konoha slowly grew, from just over a hundred to just over two hundred, with any person over the age of 5 able to fight with at least the capabilities of a fresh out of academy genin. Things were good. At least, until the first winter in nearly 30 years that had actually produced snow. It was a cold and snowy December day that Naruto felt his life slip out of control for the umpteenth time in his life.

* * *

Sakura woke alone. She rolled over and saw her clothes had been neatly folded and placed on her table-box. Her picture, an old worn one of Team 7 when it had first been formed all those years ago had been laid face down, and her candle had been re-lit and perched neatly on top of the box. Sakura sighed. She wondered if Naruto felt guilty enough not to even have the decency to stay with her until she woke, or at least woken her up when he had to say something to her. Anything would have sufficed.

Tilting the picture of Team 7 back up, she gazed longingly at it. Kakashi had been the first to die, fighting valiantly against Pein, but ultimately losing to a nail being driven through his forehead. Sasuke's face, so young and not quite as hateful as it would have been, didn't sent waves of pain through her heart as much anymore. It was almost a relief that she was able to move on. The pain of not being able to function, breath even, whenever she saw a flash of raven hair in the distance, someone starting a word with "sa", and the sound of his sword when he let it slide out of his sheath, tantalizing her kunoichi instincts to fight. It was all too much.

She looked at herself, her young, naive self. Had she known what would have happened in the future, she would have trained harder and obsessed less about being the next Mrs. Uchiha. Next to her stood a very grumpy looking Naruto. She almost smiled. Looking at this picture she saw the secret warmth that secreted through his old mask. Years of watching his face, memorizing every detail had led her to read him like a book, even in photographs. The only one who could do it better than her was Hinata. Those were the good ole' days. The days when all she had to worry about was whether or not they could catch the Fire Lord's wife's cat before lunch.

Dressing quickly, she tied her hair back in a loose braid that fell to her mid thigh before exiting her shabby little house. It was dark, she had probably missed dinner, and little Hinata was probably angry at her for not helping her with her homework like she had promised.

Naruto paced his bedroom. Although Konoha technically wasn't a village anymore, and therefore could not have a Hokage, the villagers still addressed him as that or Uzumaki-sama in the least. He had long stopped trying to get them to stop, partly because it was futile, but mostly because he stopped caring. His room was probably the biggest in the entire village. And it was only roughly three times the size of Sakura's dingy little closet she called a bedroom. Attached to his room was the main office where he worked and accepted the few missions that die-hard loyal citizens from other small towns and cities still trickled in sometimes.

* * *

When he had woken up in Sakura's bed guilt stricken, he had quickly and quietly tidied up and left a quietly snoring Sakura in her futon. Why had he done that? Sakura was his closest friend, his only real friend, nowadays. Shino was a close second, but he didn't talk much.

Behind him, as he paced back and forth in front of the window that overlooked the Uchiha compound which held nearly the entire village, Hinata moaned and stirred in her sleep, no doubt having dreams of jumping through trees. According to her teacher at school her class had just mastered that technique. He himself remembered the amazing feeling after he had mastered it and how wonderful the dreams were. Halting his pacing he leaned over his daughter and tucked her in tighter. The girl smiled in her sleep and Naruto's heart melted just a little more. Her dark hair was spread out in a tangle around her, and the white ribbon that Sakura had no doubt dug up for her was hanging down on her forehead. He brushed the hair and ribbon out of her face and sat down on the bed looking at the stack of paperwork he would have to fill out for the death of the wise Hyuuga he had called his friend and brother in arms. Naruto could feel the plague of nightmares just threatening to surface when he lay his head down for the night. Shaking his head and ridding his mind of such thoughts, he inwardly conversed with Kyuubi for a few seconds before closing off his mind and sitting down at his desk. His only light was a small white candle that smelled of roses. He took his pen in hand and sighed tiredly. He would get no sleep tonight.

* * *

Prying one eye open, Naruto saw Sakura ushering Hinata to quietly leave the room. When the little girl was out of the room, he uttered a low groan and Sakura turned her head. The look she gave him was one full of a painful love. She knew he probably felt guilty about the previous night, but these things happen between mature adults, and well, Naruto was just going to have to work it through with her, preferably on the floor. Sakura smiled a little wider, intriguing and scaring Naruto all at once. Naruto lifted his head, clear and refreshed from a, surprisingly, nightmareless night sleeping atop his desk. Imprints from pencils and papers and the occasional paperclip decorated his face, and Sakura almost laughed. Naruto's face was a lot more serious in comparison. He scratched the back of his head tentatively.

"Listen, Sakura-chan… About last night…I didn't-" Sakura raised a very strong finger and pointed at the ceiling. She shook her head and gave Naruto a stern but loving smile. One a mother would give her son who picked the wrong answer in life, and she was now guiding him towards the path of right.

"There is nothing to be 'listening' about. What we did was in the past. It can either be forgotten as a release of tension between two adults who have suffered, or it can be the start of something beautiful. I know that you will always love Hinata, and I will always love Sasuke, but I'm sure that Hinata just wants you to be happy. There is nothing to be guilty of." Naruto made a face and Sakura started talking again. "Don't make that face. Guilt was written all over your face from the moment you woke up." She moved closer, leaning down, teasing his imagination with her shiny little zipper clasp that hung so alluringly on the blue shirt she wore. Naruto nearly shook his head. Zippers were turning him on, something must be wrong. Sakura leaned so that her lips were brushing his ear.

"Besides, judging by last night's performance, I would love an encore." Naruto flushed red and gaped like a fish out of water. Sakura stood back and laughed; her voice a mixture of sweet wind chimes and a screeching banshee, if one can imagine such a combination. She turned and gave him a sexy little strut out of his office slash bedroom that screamed her intentions louder than he could ever shout, and he used to be Konoha's number one loudest ninja. A flash of her pink braid, and Sakura was gone from the room, intent on escorting little Hinata to school like she did every morning. Hinata was practically her daughter in every right but birth and name and by the gods she wasn't about to lose her to an evil scraped knee or skinned elbow.

Hinata skipped merrily along the street, waving at the villagers in the small and extremely tight community. Everyone knew each other, and yet, with most being shinobi, secrets were kept easily and gossip was minimal. The few people who had seen their chief (and pretty much only) medic nin and sort-of Hokage frantically trying to eat each other's faces as they blindly stumbled to Sakura's little shack kept it to themselves and either mumbled "troublesome kids" or regarded it as an SS-Class top secret mission that was to be kept classified until something official was announced. Then, they could gossip.

Today was a treat at the academy, Sakura and a few of her underlings in the medic world, were going to assess the chakra manipulation skills and control of all of the academy students from year 2 and up, with the intent to recruit. Now a days, if you had the skills to become a medic nin, you were considered god. It was what every academy student trained for, honing and perfecting their control and stamina, a few of the older students even delving into jutsu's themselves to impress Sakura when she came every 6 months. Needless to say, the school was buzzing with excitement.

Walking into the rundown building that used to be some kind of dojo area in the Uchiha compound, Sakura mused at how Iruka sensei, one of the few people that had survived everything up until now was still teaching and had decorated the dojo to look like a large classroom very similar to her own all of those years ago. Shino, the only other member of the Rookie Nine that had survived was also a teacher, along with a third woman whom Sakura had gotten to know very well over the years. When the makeshift little bell rung, all of the students filed frantically into the dojo. Today was the day they might become heroes of the village! They had been training and training for even a slice of praise from Sakura. Being told that with a few more years and honing, medical jutsu were possible, was only a step down from being recruited. It meant that she would be back, and it meant that they weren't part of the disappointed crowd.

Sakura smiled when the children all cheered at the sound of her name. She secretly loved the attention (not actually so secretly, but don't tell her this, she'd rip your arm off and then sew it back on just to rip it off again. She could do that.). After giving her brief lectures on all the responsibilities and duties and expectations that being a medic nin held, it only served to heighten the excitement, something the spring haired woman was extremely proud of. If only Tsunade were well enough to see this now. Smiling at her own memories, she called the first name on the list, all alphabetical thanks to the meticulous Shino, and saw that a shy little girl with light green hair and a large forehead hidden by bangs approach her. As soon as she put her fingers together Sakura had her first recruit. Akino Kikuna shyly twiddled her way back to the cheering crowd. Sakura couldn't help but grin. This girl who resembled her greatly at her age even had the same kind of name. Autumn of Chrysanthemums, which grew all over the forest edges in fall in the ruined village of Konoha only furthered her liking for this child. Maybe one day she would be the next Tsunade… Or even the next Sakura. Sakura shuddered. She hoped not. Not with all the horror she had seen.

"Zarahi Kinko-san." Sakura called. So far from the 60 or so students, she had recruited 14 and had seen potential in a further 23; a good crop this year. Kinko stood up to Sakura, she was one of the older students, and a tall one at that. She almost reached Sakura's eyes. She confidently put her hands together and formed chakra. Sakura opened her mouth to congratulate her when a large chakra burst suddenly appeared from somewhere south of her position. Immediately worried that the Kyuubi had tried to escape again, she turned her body around to face the grating feeling of whomever's chakra this was. The ground started to shake.

* * *

Naruto had fallen asleep again when all he heard was growling and had the odd feeling like someone was scraping a cheese grater across his back and arms. Fully awake and looking around, he already knew that the growling was from Kyuubi, but when he looked out of the large window that looked over the compound and the badly damaged Hokage monument, he saw a person wrapped in a ball of blue chakra. He watched almost in slow motion as the person formed a large ball of pure, cheese grating chakra and threw the ball, now the size of himself, at the compound. He reached a desperate hand out, hoping that it would help, but was quickly thrown back into the wall of his room as pretty much all of the compound was destroyed, including where he was.

Coughing and picking himself out of the rubble of the building that had once been his home, he could vaguely hear the sounds of people crying and screaming, but everything was being blocked out of his hearing. There was only one thing that was important enough to do this, and that was quite obviously, the safety of his daughter. She was the last remaining Hyuuga, the only thing left of Hinata, and the only person left who held any part of his ever dying heart. Pushing people out of the way to cross the three or four kilometres it took to get to the school was the longest 26 seconds of his life. When he saw the state of the school his mind went blank and he just stared. The building had been blown apart, being quite close to the epicentre of the attack. After another moment of hesitation, he practically dove into the pile of rubble and started digging like his life depended on it – which it did in a way – all the while, his life, 6 long years ago kept flashing in front of his eyes.

* * *

It had snowed then. The first snow Konoha had seen in over 30 years, due to the naturally warm climate of the volcano rich country. The children were excited, building men and ninja out of snow (some using them as target practice), but the adults were not so enthusiastic. This meant that the winter crops would die, and probably a few elderly along with it. The one thing they didn't expect was that the buildings, never having been built to hold the weight of anything but themselves and a few ninja jumping on them started collapsing. The first was one a surprise, and due to the actual building itself being shabbier than the norm, no one batted an eye. No one was hurt, and the neighbours moved over a tad to make room for the family who had lost a home.

The second one was more serious. A whole party had been going on and it took the medical team and others an entire day to find and collect the injured and the dead from the rubble. Despite the fact that Hinata was nearly due, she was a valued medic and was needed. She and Sakura and about 6 other medics were crowding around the injured healing, soothing, and in Hinata's case, mostly bandaging. Naruto had been on his way to the make shift hospital to give Hinata her day-early birthday present when the horrible crunching sound that would haunt his sleep for years to come sounded from around the corner. It sounded exactly like tons and tons of shingles, wood, and aluminium would sound like as is collapsed in on itself and landed on crunchy December snow.

He didn't really remember anything after that. It was all a little fuzzy. Sakura had filled him in. The building collapsed from the snow on the roof and that in turn caused the second story to collapse on the first, which was where Hinata was. Sakura, being on the second story at the time escaped most of the weight where as Sakura, who had regained consciousness after only a few moments, had been mortified to see Hinata's mangled body. Her entire upper body had been buried in the supports of the building, and her long blue hair shone hauntingly in the crisp daylight. Sakura watched a snowflake fall onto the once shimmering locks before she could even muster enough will to move. Checking the vitals of the mangled body, she soon confirmed it to be a corpse. Through all luck, Hinata's belly was untouched, and the baby, already almost due, was moving around, dying with each second that she didn't get her mother's life giving blood. Sakura made quick work.

Naruto does remember something about that horrible night, he just doesn't want to go back there and revisit it. He remembers the horrible feeling of seeing Sakura, his best friend and adopted older sister, push herself out of the rubble with only minor injuries, carrying a small, and surprising quiet little baby girl with fringes of blue hair and white eyes that could gaze into one's very soul. He remembered the look on Sakura's face when he asked about Hinata, and then he remembered the crushing feeling in his chest when Sakura shook her head and handed him the baby.

The old feelings, the old memories, the old fears were all resurfacing with years of vengeance behind them. Naruto kept digging and digging. Why couldn't anyone just leave Konoha alone? They weren't big enough to do anyone harm, they were peaceful, and they weren't even classified as a shinobi village anymore. Why did everyone always want to ruin his life? He touched a hand and stopped cold. The hand was slender and the fingers were long, but the palm was calloused with years of use on kunai and various other sharp and pointy objects. Frantically pushing the last beam off the buried arm, he met the sight of a pair of warm green eyes. He almost sighed a breath of relief when he realized that the eyes were quickly fading, becoming cold on such a warm day. He searched the woman's face, looking for signs of life, but among that tangled pink hair and the bloodstained face, he found none.

To say that Naruto was numb was an understatement. That is what people would say for years to come, mainly because when he pulled the last beam trapping her body, or the upper half of her body anyway, he died. That's what they say. He up and died.

Naruto stared. He dropped the beam, and he stared. He stared as hard as he could, but it wouldn't move, no matter how hard he willed it. Picking it up carefully, like one would a glass figurine, Naruto could feel the life slipping from his body. Everything became cold, colder than he had ever been in his entire life, colder than the dull and dead eyes of his daughter, whose face was flickering between that and her mother's.

Not only did he die, they would say, he turned into a monster. 9 long tails made of pure fire and chakra sprouted from very being and he was Naruto no longer. They were wrong, of course, he was still very much Naruto, just not a conscious Naruto. He stood in front of the gates of the Kyuubi, rusted and broken, but still able to hold the monstrous beast, and cried. Kyuubi felt sorry for him. A human emotion brought on by sorrow so powerful that it imposed it self onto a demon. Onto the very _spirit_ of a demon. When he had stopped which was surprising quick, it almost hurt Kyuubi to see the look in the man's eyes. He may have been an unforgiving demon, but he had lived through the hardships Naruto had suffered since the day the insufferable Yondaime had put his soul into the belly of a baby. Naruto looked up and stared the demon right in the eyes. He reached out and stroked the seal, sending a wave of shivers up the Kyuubi's spine.

"Kill me." He said, and before anything could be done, he ripped the seal off, causing the broken and rusted gates to swing wide open. Naruto was assaulted by the red chakra and stood about as much chance against it as one would against a tidal wave. He was thrown against the back of the black cellar, but when death did not come, he saw that the Kyuubi was still standing, tall and proud, in his cage, his stare flickering between Naruto and a new figure standing where the seal had been previously. His hand was held up the fox and he turned to look at Naruto, his blue eyes sad, and his blonde hair messy. There was blood on his mostly white robe, as well as piece of paper he held in his hand. When he spoke, his voice was quiet, yet the loudest he had ever heard.

"No. The seal has been broken, whether by force or by will, but I will not let my death be in vain. Counter measure plan b has been activated. Prevent this, if forced, and if willed, shame on you." The man said. Naruto gaped, and Kyuubi looked about as much of a fish as a gigantic fox demon could. The man, the Yondaime as Naruto had quickly deduced from photographs he vaguely remembered seeing as a child started to glow brighter and brighter. He saw the cage rebuild itself and he let tears slip down his cheek. All he wanted to do was die, and no one could even let him do that. Before the light was so white it was burning his retinas, he heard the fox scream with rage before pumping chakra at the white so hard it started to melt the skin off of Naruto, which was quite a feat considering that they were in his subconscious. The white light stayed persistent, however, and when his vision had been permanently burned for good, the pain, the pressure, everything just stopped. The roar of the chakra enforced wind stopped as suddenly as it had become, and when Naruto opened his eyes, he saw a pick pocked ceiling. Corkboard tiles painted a horrendous white colour.

He heard the steady beeping of a heart monitor and sighed inwardly. Pulling the clip off of his finger, rather painfully, although no part of the blonde showed it, he tried to swing his legs over the edge of the bed. Actually, it was a rather nice bed. He must not be in Konoha. A quick glance at the window showed a tree, a nice big maple tree. Somewhere in the fire country, for sure then. Naruto nodded stiffly as the pain of the cold tile under his feet made his legs spasm in pain. He felt Kyuubi tugging at him, trying to pull him down into his soul, but he ignored it. When a teenager, barely 17, rushed into the room followed by a pair of men in long white coats, doctors, Naruto reminded himself, he was forcefully lifted back into bed and strapped down.

"Stop! You'll hurt yourself more! Now just sit back, you've had a rough day. Here, I found you, so Hokage-sama says I have to watch you until you are good enough to talk to him." The teen offered his hand, despite the fact that Naruto had just been strapped down, and Naruto just stared at. Hokage? He was the Hokage! What the hell was going on? Looking up at the teen, he say himself looking at a young man who looked similar to how he did, with the blue eyes, blonde hair, and warm smile, but was decidedly more feminine looking, at least, that was the only word that came to Naruto's mind at the moment.

The needle that one of the doctors had stuck in him before they had left him strapped to a rather nice hospital bed was starting to work it's wonders. He found Kyuubi's call irresistible and let his eyes flutter shut with little resistance. Maybe if he closed his eyes, he'd never wake up again. It was a comforting thought. The last thing he saw before black overwhelmed his sight was the worried face of the blonde teen whom apparently was in charge of him.


	2. Lonliness Sucks

Chapter 2

* * *

He could hear Kyuubi snarling and snapping his jaws all the way from the end of the tunnels where he always started his short walk to the main chamber of his soul. Tiredly making his way to the giant fox demon, Naruto rubbed his face. He needed a good nap, and perhaps a good drink to forget what happened to Hinata. He choked quietly as the memories of his daughter's death flooded him.

"**Kit.**" His almost affectionate nickname from the fox rang out, startling the blonde. He hadn't realized that he had walked all the way into the chamber. Greif always put spaces in his attention.

Gazing up at the fox, Naruto gasped. The usually arrogant and regal being was now fading. He looked no more substantial than smoke. Naruto held his breath; he didn't want to blow Kyuubi away by accident. Despite being a murderous demon, the two had grown close, in an 'I can't kill you so I might as well make the best of it' way. Kyuubi lowered his muzzle on to his paws so that he could look the blonde in the face.

"What happened to you? What happened to me, actually? Why am I still alive?" Naruto asked, barely louder than a hoarse whisper. Kyuubi sighed, letting out a small whine. When he spoke, his voice sounded muffled, like he was speaking over a telephone.

"**The Yondaime. That rat-bastard. His plan B was to send you back to yesterday to redo the events and stop whatever had made you pull the seal off. Ugh. I was finally free too.**" Naruto sat down. This was pretty big. If he was in yesterday then he could save Hinata and Sakura! A large grin rose on his face as he thought of his daughter, looking more and more like her mother every day.

"This is amazing! I can save her!" Naruto was giddy, and he was glad he was sitting down, his legs felt like jello from the stress being lifted. The Kyuubi whined quietly. He had really actually liked the older Hinata, especially when Naruto would forget to turn his mind off when the two decided on being intimate. He also liked the little runt of his, although Naruto had never noticed it, the girl reeked of fox, and Kyuubi couldn't be prouder if it had been his own. The bad part of this was going to kill him.

"Why are you smoky?" Naruto said, suddenly and solemnly, almost expecting the worst. Kyuubi looked at him almost sadly.

"**I'm sorry, Kit, I truly am.**" Naruto frowned, creasing his mature face. Kyuubi never apologized. _Never._ Something was up. Standing unsteadily, he made his way to the polished and sparkling bars of the cage. He paused, hesitating, before sticking his arm through the bars, and right through Kyuubi's face. Gasping in horror, He backed up.

"**I interfered. The chakra I released trying to get out despite that blonde bastard-**" Kyuubi earned a half hearted reproachful glare from Naruto "**it interfered. We didn't go back to yesterday, we went farther. I don't know when, it might be mere days or weeks, it may be years. I can't see outside your body anymore.**" Naruto paused to take the information. Before his eyes, Kyuubi seemed to get more and more transparent with each second.

"What's happening to you?" Naruto said, obviously worried. Kyuubi gave his best impression of a non-committal shrug.  
"**No idea. I don't think I'm dying though. Maybe we went back before you were born. Maybe we went back before **_**I**_** was born.**" Naruto gaped. He couldn't imagine a time before Kyuubi was born, the being was centuries old. He watched as Kyuubi became nothing more than a small wisp of smoke, his voice sounded more and more like he was trying to talk through a pillow.

With a final farewell from the fox demon the wisp vanished and Naruto felt the need to sit down again. He stared at the empty cage, loneliness overwhelmed him, pounding his chest with a force almost enough to move him physically. Everyone was leaving him, even the curse that was usually the cause of the leavings. Another pang struck his chest, this time it _was_ enough to shove him back a few inches. Naruto stared at his chest in horror. Another pang and he was thrown back a few feet, smacking his head on the hard concrete, and doing the opposite thing of the real world, he woke up.

White lights blinded him, but he couldn't close his eyes. A flurry of activity rushed around him as he saw people he didn't know, all with worried and intense faces lean over him. He was vaguely aware of a shrill noise in the background that seemed to swallow everything else up. His chest and throat burned like he had been stuck in the desert for a week with no water.

One of the men hovering above him shouted something and the faces all leaned back. He rubbed two dull silvery things in his hands together and placed them on Naruto's chest. For a moment, the coldness of the paddles was all that he could feel, but that feeling was erased by the feeling of something kicking him square in the heart with the force of Rock Lee. He took in a breath, only now realizing that his chest had been burning because he hadn't been breathing. He let loose a scream of pain when that cool lifesaving breath he had taken was let out. The man, a doctor he had assumed, backed up, mercifully not intending on putting those silver paddles of pain back onto his body.

His eyes were heavy with exhaustion, and it probably wasn't helping that the only nurse who hadn't filed out of the room yet was pushing something into his IV drip, via syringe. Letting out a sigh, his throat and chest still a little sore, the blonde shut his eyes peacefully, completely unaware of the visitor that had yet to leave the room.

* * *

When Naruto woke next, he didn't panic. He knew he was in a hospital, and that he was probably not going to die. Now he had just had to figure out when and where the hospital was. His eyelids were still heavy, after effects of the drug they had used to calm him down. Groaning, he placed his hand on his forehead tenderly, noticing that he was hooked up to a multitude of machinery. He also noticed that his forehead was completely wrapped in gauze. Normally Kyuubi would have healed any wound in minutes, but thinking of the fox only reminded Naruto of how lonely he was doomed to be.

"Are you coherent enough to talk?" A smooth voice to his left said. Naruto glanced over and saw the teen he remembered hovering when he had tried to walk earlier.

"Where am I?" He said; his throat felt about as bad as it sounded. The older blonde pulled his plastic chair closer and said,

"You're in the hospital. Do you remember what happened to you?" Naruto, annoyed that he hadn't named a city or village, grunted again and said,

"No. I don't think I'm going to remember much. What city is this?" The blonde gave a sad little smile that almost made Naruto feel bad for not knowing what had happened to him. The man beside him was strange, and strangely familiar.

"You're in Konoha General, finest hospital in the five great nations." Naruto choked on his breath. In a way, this was better than he expected, Konoha's hospital had gone down when Pein had originally attacked nearly ten years prior to his memory. Unfortunately, this meant he'd probably have to restart his relationship with Hinata, not that he would miss that at all, it's just the thought of all of their happy memories had been flushed down the drain like that. The blonde was staring at him questioningly. Naruto sighed.

"Who are you?" He asked finally, and the teen stuck his hand out promptly, and said, pride lacing his every word,

"Namikaze Minato, 17, Chuunin, at your service." The name rung at the back of Naruto's mind as he grimaced at the enthusiasm in which Minato had introduced himself, and ignored the blonde's hand. Minato seemed to be unoffended when he withdrew his hand. Eyeing the shorter blonde for a second or two, Minato said,

"Do you remember anything? Your name, where you came from, anything?" Naruto was distracted looking in the back of his mind for where the name had rang a bell. He only half heard the question, and answered reflexively.

"Naru...to…" He paused halfway, cursing himself in and out. If he was in the past, he probably shouldn't have given his name out until he was sure where he was. If he ended up somewhere before his birth, he could have just killed himself. Minato seemed to see the uneasiness in his face and misinterpreted it.

"Oh, you don't really remember anything do you? Well, Naruto, I'm going to get the Hokage. We'll be back in a moment. Try to rest, and don't overdo it, that head wound is pretty nasty." Naruto watched the blonde leave. Hokage? He envisioned Tsunade in her busty glory. How he missed the woman of his youth, and not the miserable old woman plagued by memory halting diseases and a crippled body, shouting out for Nawaki and Dan, and never for Naruto or Sakura. He had tried to stop visiting her so often, every time he left the place, the hole eating his heart had grown bigger, but the woman was his surrogate mother, not easily given up.

Minutes passed, the tension to see the woman he loved so much pass through the doors into the white room was almost unbearable. When the doors finally started to open, Naruto nearly screamed with anticipation. Minato entered first, his eyes focused on the now very much alert blonde in the bed. Behind him followed someone Naruto didn't recognize. He had salt and pepper coloured hair, a receding hairline, and an unlit pipe hanging from his mouth. The older man waltzed right up to Naruto, who was recovering from his hopes being squashed like a bug.

"Hello Naruto. My name is Sarutobi Hiruzen. It's nice to meet you." At the mention of Sarutobi's name, Naruto shot his face up so fast it hurt his neck. He gaped wide-eyed at the man he loved like a grandfather. How far did he go back? The Sarutobi of his world was older, quite older, actually. So this was definitely before he was 12, maybe he was still a baby. No, there had been no recognition in his eyes at his name. Naruto shook his head sourly. Kyuubi pushed himself this time.

"Hello…" He said cautiously. Sarutobi smiled pleasantly, his face creased with the wrinkles that Naruto was more familiar with. Maybe he wasn't that young. Naruto quickly resolved to raise himself if that indeed turned out to be how far he was back. It would be awkward, and weird, but he would definitely give himself a better life. Nodding slightly, Sarutobi cleared his throat, and Naruto, who had been spacing off snapped to attention.

"Should I come back another time, Naruto-san? You still seem a little dazed." Naruto shook his head, feeling childishly sour at how Sarutobi said his name, lacking the care and love he was used to.

"I just wanted to ask some questions, and maybe answer some, if you don't mind." Naruto nodded slowly and adjusted himself so he was sitting up against his pillows. Sarutobi sat down on Minato's chair so that he was face level with Naruto. Eyeing the blonde up, Naruto noticed that he didn't even pause at his face, as if his whisker marks weren't familiar to him. Naruto quickly shot his hand up to his face, making sure he still had them. To his relief, three small smooth marks still decorated his face, reminding him that the loneliness he felt knowing at his gut was indeed real, and he hadn't imagined everything. Sarutobi took a note of his actions, but decided to file it away for later.

"So, tell me what you remember, Naruto-san. I'd really like to know." His voice was smooth, trustworthy. There wasn't a wonder he was always a people person. It was hard to not tell him everything. Everything would probably land him in Ibiki's care… If Ibiki was even here. Naruto shrugged and said,

"I remember my name… um…" Naruto frowned, feigning concentration, trying to come up with something that would sound plausible. "Uhm… I remember fighting with someone… I… I can't really remember anything else." Sarutobi sighed. He clicked his pipe on his teeth and said, in the same soothing voice,

"Can you remember your parent's names? Maybe your surname? We might be able to find your parents… although you don't look like any of the students here, we could even find them if they were from a different village. Anything would help. I'm sure your parent's miss you very much." Naruto twisted his mouth sourly, his eyes deadpanned. Not looking at either of his guests, he said quietly,

"I'm pretty sure my parents are dead." Minato pursed his lips, and Sarutobi sighed, sitting back. Naruto crossed his arms and looked out the window, somewhat upset that the Hokage had to remind him of how alone he was now. Although why he would be asking a grown man who his parents were was a little absurd. He glanced down at his arms. Uncrossing them he looked at the machinery attached to them.

Wait. Why were his hands so small? Turning them over and wriggling his fingers, despair started to creep up his spine. Turning to Sarutobi, he said, in a rush,

"Old man! How old do I look?" Minato let his eyebrows rise. Not very many people called the Hokage old man and went unpunished. Sarutobi merely laughed, wondering if the boy realized how rude he sounded.

"12 or 13 would be my guess, although you look a little undernourished. Listen, if you live on the streets and just don't want to tell me, it's ok, I can set you up in a good foster home…" He panned off as he saw the look of absolute horror on the boys face. He was about to ask what the matter was, but the horror switched to anger, and then to nothing.

In his mind, Naruto was screaming. 12? 12!!!? He was going to have to go through puberty ALL OVER AGAIN, he screamed. Almost expecting the fox to tell him to shut his trap, only silence greeted him and the loneliness wormed its way up, seeping all his anger away. Naruto took a second to calm himself.

"What is the date?" Naruto finally asked, through gritted teeth. If Sarutobi had been affected by the way Naruto was speaking, he didn't show it. Instead he calmly, in a voice that helped soothe Naruto's anger away, he said,

"It's June 11th." Naruto grimaced. Today was Kurenai's birthday. He imagined Hinata would be putting a present on her grave, like she did every year. Naruto resisted the urge to cry. He felt extremely weak in both body and soul.

"The year?" He asked, trying to calm himself. Sarutobi prattled off the year and Naruto almost sighed. He was waaaaay back. If his dates were right, he was back almost 8 years before he was born. Glancing at the blonde who was hovering behind Sarutobi like a mother hen, worried expression and all, Naruto choked again, this time enough to make him cough.

"Are you alright, Naruto-kun?" Minato asked. Naruto waved a hand, pounding his chest with the other. Sarutobi reached out and gave his back a pat in a half effort to help. Glancing at the blonde again, he had finally figured out why he looked so familiar. Staring at him with a concerned look on his face was the very young and inexperienced fourth Hokage. Sarutobi turned to the man who would eventually follow him in his line of work and said, quietly and calmly,

"I think you should probably get back to your class. I'll handle the boy. When he is ready to be released I will call for you. If things turn out the way I think they might, I'll have a mission for you, Minato." Minato nodded stiffly and gave Naruto one last glance over his shoulder before disappearing. Naruto had stopped choking by now, and instead was trying to sort his feelings out for the blonde man. He couldn't help but feel a little resentment for the pain he had gone through as a child.

"Are you feeling ok enough to talk some more, Naruto-san? Or should I come back another time?" Sarutobi asked gently. Naruto shook his head.

"Sorry, my throat hurts. I keep choking on it. But I want to keep going, I feel fine." He saw the Hokage's glance flicked up to the bandage wound around his head. Nodding and pulling his pipe out to inspect it, he said,

"We found you mangled up in the playground at the academy. Do you have any idea how you got there?" Naruto blinked. He hadn't. Quickly shaking his head, he pulled the blankets over his arms. He felt cold.

"After examining you, patching up your wounds, and sedating you after you had tried to get out of your bed, you started seizing as soon as you were fully sedated. At first we thought that it was an allergic reaction, but…" Sarutobi trailed off, thinking about what Minato had told him earlier. Naruto was staring at him wide eyed, anxious to here more.

"But…?" He said, noticing for the first time that his voice was strangely high pitched. Resentment smoldered in his stomach for the years of growing he had to re-do. Sarutobi didn't smile. What had happened was strange, he wasn't sure he should tell a child. Sighing, he decided that the boy might have more answers than he would.

"Well, according to Minato, when the nurses tried to hold you down to prevent you from hurting yourself, a seal, one that he wasn't able to identify, which as you might find out later, is a big thing for that kid, appeared on your stomach." Naruto gulped, letting his hand rest on his belly. Sarutobi continued. "The seal lit up and red chakra, the likes of which no one had ever seen or felt, starting seeping out. I had felt it in my office, and I can tell you boy, it was evil feeling. When it all left, you went into cardiac arrest and clinically died for 6 minutes, before your heart decided it wasn't ready to quit on us yet." Naruto gaped. Openly gaped. He knew exactly what had happened, years and years of having the Kyuubi in his body, only to lose it all at once? Naruto was secretly surprised to still be alive.

"Do you remember if you were a shinobi?" The aging Hokage asked, tenderly, as if the subject might awaken some fury hidden deep in Naruto. Glancing at the old man, willing the memories of his adopted grandfather away, he said,

"I… I remember fighting. I don't know, maybe?" Sarutobi nodded and rose from his seat. Naruto watched him stand up.

"Well, I think I've stressed you out enough for the day. The doctors say that you could be out of here in a few days if you take it easy. Just cooperate with anything they ask, and if you remember anything else, please send someone for me. They know that you are a priority patient. If you have any questions, feel free to ask anyone anything. Get some rest, Naruto-san, I'll be seeing you." Naruto shivered. The old man could be creepy when he wanted too.

Lying back in bed, he let his lids flutter. He was still so exhausted. The cheerful sun, unaware of the horrors it would witness in the years to come shone merrily on Naruto's tanned face. If he lived, he'd been years and years older than his friends, a price he'd gladly continue paying just to see them safe. Smiling softly for the first time in what felt like years, he drifted to sleep and actually slept, peacefully and dream-free.

* * *

End Chapter 2

Yay! It's finally out! Sorry it took so long, I ended up getting kicked out of my parents house, and spent a month looking for a job in a city that was nearly two hours away. So I've now moved up here, settled into my new job, and am so bored I can actually write! For anyone who reads Hitochigae, I'm going to take it down because I'm rewriting the entire thing. This time I worked the plot through, took out and added characters that the story needed, as well as changed a lot of big points in the plot. Maybe this time it won't suck so bad. Thanks for reading, and that little purple review button there, that little guy is your friend, and he loves to be clicked : )  
Also, this chapter's a little short, but the hospital scene is pretty much done, and it didn't feel right for me to start on the next part. Enjoy!


	3. Of Brothers and Budding Stalkers

Chapter 3

* * *

The rest of the week passed by without further incident. Minato had faithfully come by to visit every day at 3 o'clock. Naruto hadn't heard another word from the Hokage, but he hadn't really expected too. He knew all too well how busy a job it was. Today, although, was Naruto's last day and he was pretty excited. Minato had dropped by early in the morning before school started, he was a teacher at the academy, as Naruto had found out early on, and told him that after he was discharged this afternoon Minato would be taking him to see the Hokage about living options.

3:30 rolled by with no blonde teenager in sight. Naruto sat on his hospital bed, dressed in some hand me downs from Minato until Naruto could get out shopping for something that fit. The more he stared at the clock, the slower it seemed to tick, so Naruto stood up, still a little wobbly from the sudden height adjustment he was still getting used to, and paced the room. Naruto had grown pretty close to Minato over the last seven days. The taller blonde would often sit for hours just talking, telling Naruto about his life, asking stupid questions, asking good questions, things to keep Naruto from feeling lonely. Although when Naruto asked if he had any friends outside of Naruto, Minato put on an unsteady smile and said that they were usually too busy for him. After that, Naruto had wisely let the man continue talking. He knew the look in Minato's cerulean eyes all too well.

The doors finally cracked open, letting in a tired looking blonde. Naruto grinned widely, happily acting like a 12 year old. Being discharged from hospitals were always happy memories for him. Minato stepped inside and took a quick look at Naruto. The bandage around his forehead was reduced to just a piece of gauze covering the wound. He would often berate the shorter blonde for scratching it. The baggy clothes that Minato had managed to dig up from his closet fit Naruto very badly, as Minato as he was, was more than a foot taller, and broader in the shoulders and waist.

The older blonde couldn't help but chuckle at the child's appearance. Putting his hands on his hips, he smiled brightly and said,

"Well, Naruto-kun, are you ready to leave this place?" Naruto almost jumped with joy. He had been patient, letting the nurses and doctors poke and prod him, but the alluring sight from his window almost broke his will to stay until everything was done.

"I've never been readier!" Naruto said, almost tripping with the few steps it took to cross the room to Minato. Minato frowned.

"Are you still having trouble walking? I can get someone to look at that…" He said, tentatively. Naruto shook his head quickly.

"No, it's nothing like that. I just feel like my body is the wrong size. I'm sure I'll get used to it. I'll have it down pat in the next few days." Telling partial truths were always easier than lying. Minato didn't need to know that he was really almost 6 feet tall, and definitely not as scrawny as he was now.

* * *

The journey to the Hokage's office from the hospital was a familiar one to Naruto, as Sarutobi had often requested his presence after particularly harsh beatings. Although when Naruto had gotten older, the route had changed from street to rooftops. Walking at the slow pace Minato was setting for the younger blonde was killing him, but he put on a smile, and stumbled down the street. The only thing that Naruto felt uneasy about was that no one was glaring at him. A few were staring, but he was pretty sure it was more at his clothes and state of being than him himself.

The Hokage's secretary, a younger version of a woman that Naruto vaguely remembered as a child, gave the pair of blondes a distasteful look that made Naruto flinch. Minato glanced down at Naruto before shooting the lady an equally distasteful look. The taller blonde made a note to ask Naruto about that.

"Hokage-sama is ready to see you." She said, looking down her hawk nose. Minato nodded stiffly and pushed the younger blonde gently into the office. Sarutobi was sitting at his desk, puffing his pipe and sorting through paperwork. Glancing up he made brief eye contact with Naruto, leaving him once again saddened by the lack of warmth he was used to.

"Hello boys. I trust the rest of your week has been without incident?" Both blondes nodded in unison. The aging man let out another cloud of smoke and placed his paperwork down in a neat pile. Resting his elbows on the dark wood of his desk, he folded his fingers together and said,

"I've had some tests performed on you while you were in the hospital, and the Hyuuga clan has determined that you have a very well developed and frequently used chakra system." Naruto's eyes widened. What other tests did the Hokage perform? Sarutobi's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"If you wish, you may remain a civilian and I will allow you to receive a stipend until you obtain steady work. Or you may choose to be instated as part of our shinobi force, under strict supervision and limited actions until we can be sure that you are indeed just a victim and not a spy in our midst. Your chakra seems to be very well developed; you may in time become a great asset to the village of Konoha." Naruto inwardly cringed at the suspicion, although he knew it was appropriate and necessary. Sweeping a bow with just the right amount of respect, if not a little too much, Naruto gazed at the floor and said, his voice annoyingly high pitched,

"With your permission, Hokage-sama, I feel I would best serve Konoha as a ninja. I will dedicate, and if the job requires it, lay my life down for this village and every person who resides in it." Sarutobi and Minato blinked at the seriousness of the statement. Naruto remained bent, his eyes picking out patterns in the carpet. Sarutobi took another long drag of his pipe, savouring the sweet taste of the special tobacco he had ordered from the small wave country that bordered the fire territory. Flicking his fingers, he said,

"You may rise." Naruto rose and stared directly into Sarutobi's brown eyes. The Hokage searched the boy's face for any sign of faltering or deception, but found none. Satisfied for the time being, he smirked, breaking eye contact. Minato noticed Naruto relax a little, and put his hand on the shorter blonde's shoulder. Naruto glanced up at him before smirking.

"I hereby instate Naruto as a Konoha genin, and with such responsibility, I expect you to do everything in your power to protect Konoha and its citizens." Naruto broke out a large smile, genuinely glad to be back in the fighting force. The aged Hokage shuffled his papers again before sighing.

"Now comes the problems of housing and a team." Minato spoke up for the first time since entering the office. His hand never left Naruto's shoulder, and Naruto was glad for it. He was never one for casual contact, but something about Minato made him relax more than usual.

"I volunteer a room in my house for Naruto-kun here." Naruto gazed at Minato, unsure of how to feel. It wasn't very often that someone offered something like this to Naruto, coupled with the fact that Naruto was still under suspicion of being a spy. Sarutobi sat his desk, seemingly unsurprised.

"Alright. That goes perfectly with the team problem. Minato, I realize that I have yet to properly congratulate you on your passing of the Jounin test this morning." Minato stiffened into a proper stance before his leader.

"Thank you, Hokage-sama, it is most appreciated." The Hokage gave a small smile and said,

"As your first mission, I hereby assign Naruto here as your personal student and apprentice until such time as he becomes Chuunin, or gives his life in the line of duty." Naruto winced at the last line, but smiled openly at what this meant. He would get to be taught by his hero! His grin did not go unnoticed by Sarutobi or Minato. Minato patted his shoulder again and slightly pushed down on his back to signal a bow.

"If that is all, Hokage-sama." Minato glanced back up and saw Sarutobi nod curtly.  
"You are dismissed." He said, and Naruto stood back up and was gently guided out of the door by his new roommate. Minato waited until they got to the street, stopping only to help Naruto when he tripped on one of the steps.

"So, I think a congratulation is in order, Genin Naruto." Naruto grinned and rubbed the back of his head. Minato rubbed his chin and gazed over the busy afternoon of Konoha.

"Why don't we go to this little ramen stand that set up recently? I think it was called, Ichiraku or something. C'mon, let's go!" Minato tugged on Naruto's sleeve and he more than happily went along. In his time, Ayame had died in the first attack, and Teuchi had passed during the snowy winter he had lost Hinata. Naruto shook his head. His mouth was turned down in a frown, but he berated himself. This was no time to dwell in the past…err…future. He could change everything, and this time, no one would die.

Minato watched the grim look on Naruto's face suddenly turn to determination. The sad look in his blue eyes almost went unnoticed, but Minato caught it out of the corner of his own blue eyes.

After they had seated themselves and ordered from a much younger Teuchi, and a woman that Naruto assumed was his wife, Minato turned to Naruto and said,

"Why did you flinch when the secretary made that face at you?" Naruto paused, and then shrugged.

"Did you remember something?" Naruto shrugged again and said,

"It was more of a feeling. I think that people used to hate me when I was child. I don't know why. Maybe wherever I'm from, I was the village pariah." Minato gave a nervous laugh and patted the younger boy on the back.

"You? You are much too cute and lovable to be a pariah." Naruto turned a bright red and slapped Minato's hand off of his back.

"Bah, shut up, Minato. I'm not cute." Puffing his cheek out, the younger blonde pouted and caused Minato to laugh even harder. He didn't stop laughing until the ramen came, smelling as good to Naruto as always. This time though, he savoured the taste of the meal as much as he could, causing Minato to finish first. He hadn't had a bowl of Ichiraku in nearly 7 years.

"What's wrong? Is the ramen not good?" Minato said over a mouth full of noodles from his second helping. Naruto wiped a tear quickly and shook his head, eating slightly faster than before. Minato didn't say anything else, and Naruto cursed letting the nostalgia get to him.

"It's excellent. I couldn't have asked for anything better." Naruto paused for a moment, before looking into his noodle broth.

"Uh…Thanks, Minato. For letting me stay with you. That's really nice of you." Minato sucked a noodle up, noting Naruto's pink cheeks and smiled.

"No problem~! It's not like I could put a cute little kid like you on the street! Us blondes gotta stick together!" The future Yondaime Hokage of Konoha's smile was infectious. Anyone who knew him from Naruto's time could have told you that, and now Naruto was falling prey to it. A large grin spread across his scarred face as he punched Minato playfully in the arm as punishment for calling him cute.

* * *

Sweating and topless in the hot summer day, Naruto and Minato both were posed in a steady stance with their arms out. In unison, they both slowly brought their front foot around in a semi circle until it was positioned behind the next one. The scraping of the loose dust and dirt made a few birds that were perched on the ledge of their makeshift training area, situated on top of Minato's apartment roof, look at them warily, before going back to pruning and cooing and whatever else birds do in their spare time.

Another arm moved, followed closely by a shorter one, and the motion was repeated again and again until Naruto's movements became more like one who knew what he was doing, rather than copying what he was seeing. Minato flicked his glance over to the sun and nodded, dropping his stance. Naruto did the same and let out a breath, stretching his arms and rubbing the cramps from them.

"Ahh~ Naruto-kun, that was great! You've almost got it all down to memory!" Naruto rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, but smiled brightly. Minato had spent the last 4 months teaching him some slow moving, but difficult exercises. They were meant to teach the body discipline while building stamina and muscle without furious movement. They also helped, as Minato had suspected they would, with Naruto getting a feeling for how big his new body was. Not that Minato knew why he'd be feeling that.

A falcon soared across town, dipping low to screech loudly before taking off again. Minato looked up, tossing a towel to his apprentice, and sighed.

"I have to report to the Hokage's office." Naruto nodded.

"I'm going to go grocery shopping, is there anything you want specifically for dinner?" Minato raised a finger and said,

"We haven't had pork in a while, right?" Naruto shrugged and wiped the sweat from his face with the towel. Minato slipped a white tank top on before shrugging his green Jounin vest on and jumped off the side of his apartment building. Naruto watched him run and jump over a few more buildings before he suddenly turned his head to look behind him. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end, but after a close scan of the street, he realized that there was nothing there. Frowning, he picked up Minato's discarded towel and walked down the side of the building into his small bedroom's window.

* * *

Panting and pressing herself against the wall of the alley way, a red faced dark haired girl with pearly eyes that seemed to almost glow in the dark of the alley silently thanked any and all gods that had anything to do with her not being discovered. If her family found out that she had been spying on someone for something other than a mission; and on hot sweaty boys nonetheless, they would be scandalized. They'd probably throw her out, and Hizashi would never let her live it down.

Thinking again of the shorter of the two, her heart fluttered harder than it had when she first spied upon him a few months ago, and her vision darkened as she flitted out of consciousness and melted to the ground, a smile and a blush gracing her unconscious face.

* * *

Sarutobi had just finished cleaning his crystal ball when Minato tapped on his open door. Nodding, but not taking his eyes off of the slightly opaque sphere, Minato stood at attention, staring straight ahead. Sarutobi ignored him, giving the ball another rub.

Minato was a good boy, Jiraiya had taught him well. Sarutobi was well aware of Jiraiya's intentions for the blonde, and if it weren't for Orochimaru expressing an interest in the position of Hokage, he would have named him a potential successor already. Sighing, he gave his ball one last wipe of the cloth and set it down on its purple velvet cushion.

"Good afternoon Minato. How are you?" Minato was still at attention, but his stance relaxed almost unnoticeably.

"Good afternoon, Hokage-sama. I am excellent. Fresh from a work out with Naruto-kun. His progress with controlling and disciplining his body is excellent." Sarutobi smiled and pressed his fingers together, forming a tent.

"Ahh yes, Naruto-san. I must say he is a bundle of energy. Very outspoken, yet still polite. Reminds me of a certain blonde at that age." Minato grinned. It reminded him of himself as well.

"I have called you in a little earlier than usual this month for a reason, but first I'd like to get the usual out of the way. Has Naruto shown anything unusual?" Minato shook his head.

"His uncertainty with his body has almost disappeared. I've only seen him fumble 6 times this past month. He still talks in his sleep, and as before, the only names he talks about are the two Hinatas. I finally asked him about the name, and he shrugged and said that he remembered a little girl named Hinata, and an older one with the same name, but a different person. I saw the look in his eyes. I think they may have been family or friends that have died." Sarutobi nodded.

"Any information on his origins?" Minato shook his head.

"Nothing, sir." Sarutobi let his hands fall to his desk before he pushed a small manila folder towards Minato.

"As you recall, I had blood tests done on Naruto-san when he first arrived as protocol for any foreign or unidentified patients in the case that they are comatose, or die." Minato offered a slight bow of his head, glancing at the folder.

"Well, the interesting thing was that when we tested his blood with this new system that Tsunade had perfected the research for, called DNA testing, god help me if I know what that means, well, we found that Naruto-san has a relative here in Konoha." Minato's eyes shot up. He was not expecting that.

"Hokage-sama, with all due respect, why are you telling me? Should you not be informing Naruto-kun that he has a family here that probably misses him?" Sarutobi sat back and nodded at the folder. Minato bent and grabbed it, opening it and scanning its contents. The blonde sputtered.

"But… This… This is impossible!"

"Is it really, Minato?" Minato glanced down at the paper and saw a pair of sheets with a strange picture that consisted mainly of a few columns of horizontal stripes. The first one was labeled 'Namikaze Minato' and the second one was labeled '??? Naruto'. Several of the columns were circled and numbered on his own sheet, and when he compared them to Naruto's sheet, the circled column on Naruto's sheet, which made up of about half of them, were identical to Minato's. On the bottom of Naruto's sheet, the words, handwritten in red ink, 'approximately 49.5% of subject N's DNA matches with subject M. Other than a few abnormalities make up no more than 1 percent of subject N's DNA, there is a 99% chance that subject N is subject M's father, full blood brother, or son.' Minato noticed that his name was printed in a different hand and ink than the researcher's hand.

"I'm fairly certain he is not your father, and I'm certainly hoping his is not your son…" Minato sent him a warning glare.

"Hokage-sama, please." Sarutobi just smiled.

"How can he be my brother? I was orphaned, Sensei can vouch for me; he was there."

"How much older are you than Naruto-san?" Minato glanced up at him quickly, but returned to rereading the confusing amount of numbers and letters that were printed and written on the pages.

"I don't know, about 5, give or take a year."

"How old were you when you were orphaned?" Minato's face paled.

"…I was 5… But… the bandits, they burned half the village down before Sensei drove them off… I was sure I saw their bodies…"

"Are you?" Minato took a few steps back and sat down in a chair, not bothering to ask permission to sit in Sarutobi's presence. Sarutobi didn't mind, this time.

"My father for sure. I identified his body by his ring, my mother I… Well I thought I was sure. Her body was burned really badly." Minato looked weakly up at the Hokage.

"Are you telling me that my mother wasn't killed? That she was taken by the bandits and… And Naruto is the product?" Sarutobi shook his head.

"The sheet says that Naruto would have to be your full blooded brother. I'm saying your mother was pregnant before she was taken. She may not have even known. She may have escaped the bandits, or they may have taken mercy on her because she was with child. I don't know, but that sheet says that she survived long enough to bear another child, and that boy is your brother. It would explain the resemblance." Minato took one last look at the manila folder before doing something that Naruto would later laugh his ass off at.

He fainted.

* * *

End Chapter Three

Whoa what? Lol, I'm still looking for a muse to help me finish Unarranged Arrangements! Just drop me a PM if you are interested~

Lol, I totally just messed all my chapters up, so sorry if you ended up reading chapter 3 in chapter 2's place, my bad my bad, I think I got it all fixed now though.


	4. Teachers With Big Boobs are the Best!

Chapter 4

* * *

Minato stared at the slightly yellowed ceiling. He traced the patterns of the dots in the tile, and the yellow smoke stains that flowed out from the direction of the Hokage's desk. The folder which contained only a few pages, felt like it weighed 100 pounds as it pushed down on his stomach.

"Would you like something to drink, Minato?" Minato looked up, which let him see the man that had been the one constant in his life, from an upside down world. Minato sighed and let his hand drop to the floor.

"Jiji, I don't know what to do." Sarutobi sipped his tea quietly.

"You could go home and tell Naruto-san that you are his brother. I'm sure the boy would be ecstatic. It might even jog some memories of what happened to him."

Minato looked at him with something of a glare in his eyes. He knew that the Hokage thought the entire situation was amusing. Sarutobi noted the look in Minato's eye with a chuckle.

"I want you to go home, Minato. Take the week off, actually. Spend some time with Naruto, and after the week has ended, I expect a report on his behaviour. While he has shown nothing but devotion, and now there is no denying that he is your brother, he is obviously not from Konoha, and due to his suspicious entrance, could still be a spy." Minato tightened his lips but nodded, opting to walk slowly out the office, delaying his arrival at his small apartment as much as he could. He didn't want to ruin the perfectly happy student-teacher relationship he and Naruto had. The boy was the epitome of a genius of hard work. He never stopped, and his stamina seemed nearly endless. Not to underestimate the boy, he was also intelligent, and was able to think up battle strategies on the fly, something that was invaluable in the battlefield. The only thing that irked Minato was the look of experience that appeared in Naruto's eyes sometimes. He was sure the boy wasn't telling him all of the memories he had been getting back.

The sky was dark by the time Minato pandered by Ichiraku's, and as an ice breaker for the revelation of his lifetime he picked up a couple of bowls of beef and miso flavoured ramen.

* * *

Naruto was reading on the lumpy couch in the kitchen and dining area when a tired and downtrodden Minato finally came in through the door. Naruto snapped his book shut and sat alert. Minato sighed and placed the bowls carefully on the table, followed by the manila folder. He flashed Naruto a tired grin before sitting.

"Sorry. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. Is there still some dinner left?" Naruto nodded and joined him at the table.

"Yea, I left your half in the fridge for later, if you want it."

"Thanks. I brought home Ichiraku as an apology, I hope you accept it." Naruto smiled widely.

"Well, if it's Ichiraku then just maybe, MAYBE, if I put together all the sympathy I have left in my heart, I could forgive you." Minato laughed.

"I'll take that as an acceptance. Dig in; I've got some stuff to tell you." Naruto happily did so, as well as Minato, although the taller blonde was eating at a slower pace. About halfway through their bowls, Minato swallowed his mouthful of noodles and said,

"So the Hokage gave me the results of the blood tests that we did when we first found you." Naruto stopped eating; his wide blue eyes trained solely on Minato's, his cheeks still full of food. Minato sighed and slipped the paper out and showed his roommate. Naruto took a second to scan the page before promptly spitting everything in his mouth all over the paper, and by default, Minato's face which sat only a foot behind them.

Minato shouted and dropped the papers to rub his face. Naruto shouted as well, and tipped the chair backwards until he fell. This knocked the wind out of him and caused him to start choking on air and leftover ramen. Minato tried to shake the half chewed pieces of noodles off of the papers, and berated himself for showing him the papers during dinner.

As he lay on the ground catching his breath and dislodging noodles from his airway, to say that Naruto was shocked was an understatement. He knew what DNA testing was, as it was considerably more advanced when Sakura had given him a crash course in it, and he knew that it was pretty damn accurate. When he saw the part about sharing DNA with Minato, the suspicions, and in Naruto's case, dream, that he had been the son of the great Yondaime had been confirmed in one simple test.

He outgrew wanting to know who his parents were when he was a child and surviving the hate from the civilians was all he could concentrate on, and as he grew and became a ninja, the topic never came up that often. The shock of everything falling into place was a huge blow. Of all the people who were chosen to take him as a ward and student, his father was chosen. Naruto could almost laugh.

Minato was about to rush to the dazed looking blonde when he saw the expression on his face turn into one of surprised joy.

"You ok?" He called, and Naruto turned to look at him, this time with a look that seemed to be memorizing every detail of his face.

"Yeah... I think so." Minato nodded.

"Yea, sooo. You're my little brother, eh? Fancy that. You sure you don't remember your parents? Your mother maybe?" Naruto blinked. Of course, parents shared the same amount of DNA as siblings did in most cases. Minato was much too young to have a 12 year old son.

"N-no. Sorry. Uh... Man, I can't believe I have family other than... well friends." The look of loss appeared in his eyes again, and this time Minato took initiative.

"Did you remember someone?" Naruto didn't respond for a second, before nodding. He needed to talk about, if only to get the weight off of his chest.

"Was it Hinata-san?" Naruto looked up at him and scrambled to his feet, picking the chair up with him.

"We were close. I wasn't liked by the village, and her family had discarded her in favour of her younger sister. She wasn't my first friend, but she was definitely my closest. We were family." Naruto shook his head and wiped a tear that had formed before it spilled over.

"What happened to her?"

"She was c-crushed. It had snowed for the first time in a while, and the buildings couldn't handle it." Minato took a step over to the blonde and pulled him into a tight hug; not unlike one that a relative would give another relative after not seeing one another for a long time. Naruto's eyes snapped open in shock, but after a few moments, he realized that this man, although not yet, was his father, and Naruto gratefully accepted the one thing he wanted most as a child. The loving touch of a (albeit unknowing) parent.

* * *

Despite Naruto fully accepting the fact that he was in the eyes of Konoha, the blood brother of Minato, a rising star in the ranks of shinobi, He still found having a family that did not consist of a small girl who looked liked her dead mother or a woman whom he could not love with all of his heart, unsettling and awkward.

Although to be fair, Naruto had tried to act normal, if a bit more little brother like (or how he perceived one to be anyway), Minato was making things incredibly awkward with unnecessary guilt, mother henning, and gift giving. It was quickly growing old.

Shrugging the small bag that contained a spare shirt, a towel, a few styrofoam bowls of instant ramen, and some water, Naruto was glad to be outside, even in the heat, and away from the taller blonde. Maybe this annoyance is really what it was like to have an older sibling. His mouth turned into a frown. He was missing being an only child already.

Intending on blowing his steam on some wooden posts on one of the many public training grounds, he clenched his fists in anticipation. He had yet to do any kind of harsh training like this, as Minato had been focussing on restoring his movement fluidity and muscle control than the raw strength Naruto knew he had.

Before he turned the bend of the street that blocked the view of the grounds from his sight, he heard a small noise that sounded almost like a child crying. A noise he knew too well from his own childhood, and from when Little Hinata was a baby. For all of his strengths, a child or girls crying were something he couldn't deal with. He hesitated, pondering whether or not he should turn on his heel, when he heard the second noise that the crying had over powered.

A steady _thump thump thump _that continued for a few beats before another sob escaped from whom ever was in the grounds. The blonde hesitated for another few seconds. It sounded like someone really needed to beat their frustrations out on someone. An unsteady grin crept up onto Naruto's face. If this worked out right, the girl (men don't cry, of course) who was crying might be angry enough to spar him. He'd be willing to take a few bruises and deal with a few tears to train with someone that wasn't a wooden post or a mother hen older brother.

Turning the bend, he raised his arm to announce his presence when the person, a girl that seemed to be about his height and age with short and choppy dark hair spun her head around and gasped loud enough that Naruto heard the painful hitching of her breath in her throat. She stared at him for a full second before her eyes, a colour that Naruto couldn't quite catch as rather suddenly, her face turned a beat red, and in a motion that was almost déjàvu, she collapsed to the ground in an ungraceful heap.

Naruto let out a shout as he dropped his bag and bounded over to her in an attempt to catch her. He didn't quite make it, but he managed to snag the edge of her jacket (honest who wears a jacket in the summer heat anyway?), accidentally tearing along the zipper seam, revealing the tight indigo material that he had seen a number of kunoichi sporting around the village. Naruto blushed, getting an eyeful before he settled her down on the ground so her face wasn't ground in the dirt anymore.

He pulled her headband off of her forehead as it was askew and covering her eye and nose, he couldn't help but gasp. The girl's face was a pretty oval shape, and other than a pair of fuller lips, and slightly closer set eyes, she greatly resembled how Hinata looked before he left with Jiraiya. He could already tell that once she trained off all of her baby fat and grew into her... assets, she would be a killer kunoichi, in more than one way.

The green manji symbol with the hooked bars that extended across her forehead stuck out and looked decidedly odd on a face that resembled Hinata so much. He ran a calloused finger over it, making the girl stir, but not awake. If she had the caged bird seal, it meant that she was a Hyuuga. The pale skin and dark hair also confirmed this to an extent. Although he had never seen another Hyuuga, other than Hinata of course, with inky hair. Although Naruto supposed that he had not met many Hyuuga, since he didn't really start his relationship with Hinata until after Konoha's destruction, and after that there were few left, only ten or so, and they all had black or brown hair.

After a solid ten minutes of staring at the girl's face, lost in memories of Hinata, he finally decided that she was probably not very comfortable laying on the dirt and grass. He nudged her arm a few times, causing her to groan and lift and hand to cover her eyes, which he presumed correctly to be the typical white of the Hyuuga Clan.

The girl groaned again and brought her other hand to her face, accidentally smacking Naruto's knee. Naruto by now had sat back, and was watching the girl with a certain curiosity. Lifting the hand on her eyes off of her face, she saw just exactly who was sitting near her. Her face turned a lobster red and she squeaked.

Sitting straight up, she covered her hands with her face and started crying again.

"Whoa whoa! Why are you crying? Are you hurt?" The girl shook her head, her tears reducing to hiccups as Naruto patted her back awkwardly.

"I-I-I-I UUU, I'm so embarrassed! Uuuu uuuuu" Naruto stopped patting and grabbed one of her hands, pulling it away from her face. He flashed her a grin before saying,

"Don't be embarrassed! From what I saw you were beating the tar out of that log. Man, I'd never want to be the subject if your anger." Clear pupil less eyes shone with shed and unshed tears.

"But! But y-you saw me faint... Again!" She buried her face in her hands and started sobbing again, this time sounding angry. "This always happen to me!" Naruto stood up, garnering her attention again. He gave her a classic Lee and Gai thumbs up complete with the flashing smile. She shuddered involuntarily, and Naruto felt sick to the stomach. He could not believe that he actually did that. It seemed to halt the girl's tears though, so it was worth it.

"What's your name?" He asked, helping her up, only to discover that she was a solid three inches taller. His ego deflated a bit, but he hid it behind a friendly grin. The girl blushed again, and brought her hands together in front of her, bowing slightly.

"Hi-Himawari. Hyuuga Himawari." Naruto nodded. He stretched his hand out and said,

"My name is Namikaze Naruto. It's nice to meet you Himawari-kun." Himawari took his hand gingerly and he gave her a nice strong shake. The shake off balanced her somewhat and caused her to look down, only to notice the state of her jacket.

"Ah! My jacket! Oh no, father is going to kill me... this was my best one..." Naruto grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"Sorry about that, I tried to catch you when you fell, but it only caught the tip of your jacket and it ripped. I can pay for it though..." Himawari shook her head and fingered the edge of the large hole.

"It's ok. I can fix it. Thank you for the offer though." Naruto noticed that she spoke quietly, but without stuttering. Perhaps the pressure of a branch member was decidedly less than one of a clan heiress.

"S-so... Can I ask what has you so frustrated? Or if it's personal, that's fine." Himawari flicked her eyes at his face before letting her cheeks tinge red. She couldn't believe that he of all people was talking to her! He actually sounded interested in her! Her situation crashed down on her again and she frowned.

"I found out that I was put in an arranged marriage today." The bitterness in her voice surprised Naruto, as she had a rather gentle manner of speaking. "It's not unusual for Hyuuga, but the man in question is a cold-hearted jerk." Himawari sighed and Naruto patted her shoulder.

"Well, that sucks. How about a spar? I can see that you're still tense and I'm willing to be your beating bag for a bit. I haven't had any rough exercise in months. I've been recovering from a coma of sorts." Himawari gasped and brought her hands to her lips.

"Oh no~! What happened? Are you sure you'd be ok?"

"I'm sure, no worries, I heal fast!" Himawari seemed to shrink within herself.

"I don't know... are you sure? I wouldn't want to have you expend yourself..." Naruto rolled his eyes and grabbed her hand, causing her to heat up like a lobster.

"C'mon, it'll be fine; you're starting to sound like my brother."

Naruto placed himself in a balanced stance before her. Himawari hesitated, but only for a few seconds. The blonde realized that she was probably not going to strike first, so he took the honours, and brought a tanned fist in towards her face. As he guessed, Himawari slapped the fist away with barely a thought, bringing his arm down with a slight pull, a move that would usually unbalance someone. Naruto however had fought Hyuuga before, and had often encountered this move. He swung his arm down and back, going with the flow of her pull, and since she still had a light grip on her arm, it tugged her down, surprising her slightly. Aiming a punch with his other arm, Himawari dropped into a squat, shooting a hand out and hooking the back of his knee with her fingers. Pulling back sharply she slapped an open palm against his stomach where his seal used to sit, and knocked Naruto over backwards.

The blonde used the momentum of the fall to push back into a flip, as Himawari tried to sweep his legs out from under him. Righting herself, the dark haired girl settled back into a steady stance, before glancing down and frowning. Her jacket was open and no doubt Naruto would use it as an advantage against her. Shedding the ripped garment, she settled back into her stance, unaware of how... bouncy, for lack of a better word, she was. Naruto struggled to push his blush down.

He could feel his will failing though. Those things... He had to admit that although he liked Hinata for many, many things, her breasts were a gigantic plus. He never told her that, however, he was afraid she'd beat him up like most of the other girls he had known would.

He was so distracted that he didn't even realize that Himawari had moved until her open palm slammed into his throat, dealing a killing a blow, had this been a real battle. Naruto choked and fell over, coughing and wheezing as Himawari fretted loudly over him. The battle wasn't a complete loss for the blond, though. He managed to grab a nice squeeze when she got him in the neck. The red that painted the blonde's face was only partly from lack of air.

* * *

Not too far away, a small boy with spiky black hair sat watching the battle from a clump of bushes. His mouth was open in awe. He was looking for some ninja to bother into helping him train, and when he spotted the blonde, he thought he had a potential candidate. Until the girl with the strange eyes brought him down with a single hit, and not even a punch! Maybe he should ask her instead.

Approaching the pair, he kept his distance until Naruto finally noticed him after being helped up by Himawari. The blonde eyed him before saying,

"What are you staring at, kid?" The boy blushed.

"I'm not a kid! I want you to help me train!" He shouted, screwing his eyes shut. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Me?" He said, and the boy opened his eyes again.

"No! You got beat by a girl! You! I want you to help me train!" He raised a finger and pointed at Himawari, who started.

"M-Me? You want me to help you train?" The boy nodded and grinned widely.

"Yea! You took him down with one strike! Even if you are a girl, you must be strong! Unless he's super weak." Naruto protested, but other than a tongue being stuck out in his general direction, he was largely ignored. Himawari looked around, clearly nervous.

"I-I don't know. I'm not the best fighter in my clan, I don't know if I could teach you how to fight at all..." She rubbed her arm and the boy shook his head.

"No way! You're amazing! I can tell by the way you stand, you're a real shinobi! Just like my cousin Fugaku-sama!" Fugaku? Where had Naruto heard that name before?

"Hey kid, before you go off trying to steal my sparring partner, what's your name?" The boy puffed his chest out and said proudly,

"Uchiha Obito!" Naruto's voice hitched in his throat, causing Himawari to glance at him worriedly, just in case her hit had done lasting damage.

The blond stared at the young Uchiha. He was proud, but he held almost none of the cold arrogance that most of his clan held. In fact, the way he stood and talked suggested to Naruto that he was a lot like himself at that age.

The boys black eyes suddenly shone with unshed tears and the small boy swore, rubbing them, pulling a small bottle of eye drops out of his pocket. Naruto had heard the story of a boy named Obito from Kakashi only once before his teacher had died in the attack on Konoha. Grinning, he nudged the girl beside him and said,

"I think you should do it. Teaching someone might help with your confidence, especially someone so loud and obnoxious."

"I heard that you bastard!" Himawari frowned.

"Obito-san, you shouldn't swear. Not only are you not anywhere near old enough to even know those words, they are not very polite." Obito blushed and scoffed. Himawari smiled and squatted down to face Obito at a face to face level.

"You realize that your family and my family both would not take kindly to me teaching you anything, right?" Obito nodded. He knew of the feud with the clan with the creepy white eyes.

"I don't care. If someone's strong, then someone is strong! It makes no difference where they are from! I just want to protect everyone!" Himawari smiled and put a delicate hand on top of Obito's black mop.

"Ok. Meet me here tomorrow at 6 am sharp, and don't be late, or you'll regret it!" Obito turned pale and nodded, before running off, no doubt to tell his mother of this wonderful news.

Himawari turned to Naruto and blushed. Naruto felt the urge to roll his eyes.

"You don't have to be so shy around me, Himawari-kun. I'm not going to judge you or anything." The girl blushed harder before wringing her hands.

"I-I'm sorry..." Naruto shook his head. "A-ano... Can I ask you to help me? I have no idea how to train anyone... I'm not that good with kids either..." Naruto smiled.

"Of course I'll help you! I know a lot of discipline exercises from my brother. They could help, and it might be fun, you never know!" He gave the girl a large grin, and was rewarded with a small but pretty smile.

* * *

End Chapter 4

~ Still looking for a muse for AU. Drop me a PM if you are interested, and thanks for all the reveiws, faves, and watches from last chapter! That was really inspiring!


	5. Summer's The Time For Camping

Chapter 5

* * *

Wind ruffled the hair of a young blonde as he lay in a patch of long green grass. The wind brought the scents of the village along with it, filling the boy's nose with smells of fresh baked breads and sizzling barbeques. Inhaling deeply, the blonde smiled softly and watched the clouds roll past.

Normally he had no attention for this kind of activity, but it was his first day off from a 3 month long slew of small but tedious escort missions. In each one Minato used the terrain to encourage him to strain his body in different ways and positions. It was almost like a more intense version of the ninja game he used to play as a child. Of course, when he was a child, he wasn't dodging small bolts of lightning and barrages of sharp kunai.

Ignoring the small sting of a burn that had yet to heal all the way on his left elbow, Naruto watched a cloud that looked vaguely like a rabbit morph into a shruiken. It had taken a year, but he finally felt that he was at the limit of what a 13 year old body could do. Naturally that put him miles above most of his peers. Minato was really a brilliant teacher. The younger blonde really wished that he had a chance to be raised by him; Minato seemed like he would have been a fantastic father.

A small scuffle in the bushes behind him was all the warning Naruto got before a sandaled foot was placed firmly on his forehead. Naruto relaxed and stared up at the figure with his arms crossed.

"We have another mission." The younger blonde sighed loudly.

"Another escort?" He asked, fully intending on begging the Hokage for something with more variety, dignity be damned. The vicious smile that curled Minato's lips did not look promising.

"Something better; that I can promise you." Naruto pushed his brother's foot off of his forehead and scrambled to his feet, an excited smile brightening his face. Minato pulled Naruto's head down with his arm around the younger boy's neck and huddled closer to him.

"We have a border patrol slash infiltration mission. And, the best part, we get to do this mission with someone I've been waiting to introduce you to." Naruto made a noise of joy and clapped his hands sharply before rubbing them together.

"This sounds like fun. When do we start?" Minato straightened up and stood like a proper Jounin.

"Pack for a month, with the possibility of it lasting longer. Meet us by the northern gates in an hour and a half. That will give you enough time to say goodbye to your girlfriend." Naruto's face lit up a bright cherry red before he sputtered out,

"Sh-shut up ni-san! She's not my girlfriend!" Minato just laughed and with a flourish of his hand and swirl of leaves, he vanished leaving Naruto infuriated. He hated it when he did that. It was probably where Kakashi had picked it up.

* * *

Himawari was exactly where Naruto had thought she would be, training Obito. The young Uchiha was sitting in the grass in front of her copying and memorizing the 12 hand seals. He could hear the boy's high pitched voice reciting the animal signs as he made them, repeating faster and faster until he inevitably made a mistake, in which Himawari made him start all over again.

The Hyuuga always brightened up when he entered her line of sight. It was cute and despite his unwillingness to dwell in the past, he still felt that little tugging of his heart when he saw her face, she looked so much like Hinata.

Naruto wasn't stupid. Not anymore anyways. He was pretty certain that Himawari was related closely to Hinata, and as much as he knew she would be happy to be in a relationship with him, he refrained. Her up and coming marriage to someone in the Hyuuga clan didn't help either. She refused to talk about her family, and he didn't know any other Hyuuga he could ask about it. He still couldn't look at her face without seeing his long dead lover. It wouldn't be fair.

"Naruto-kun!" _pang._ She stood quickly and gracefully, interrupting the young boy in front of her. Obito glared at Naruto and stuck his tongue out, something he would not have gotten away with had Himawari been watching. Naruto smirked and accepted the hug that Himawari enveloped him in, winking at the glaring and now blushing 8 year old.

"Hima-hime, I'm leaving for another mission in about an hour, so I have to make this quick, I still haven't packed." Himawari's face fell, and Naruto rushed to cheer her up. He couldn't stand sad girls.

"Hey, don't be sad! I'm going for about a month, but I promise I'll buy you something cool!" Himawari smiled sadly. Life was so boring without Naruto around to make things colourful. The blonde looked down past her at the now standing Uchiha.

"Hey kid," he said, crouching down and ruffling the boy's hair, much to his disdain.

"I need you to take care of Hima-hime while I'm gone. Can I count on that from you?" Obito smiled wide with a smile that looked so similar to his own.

"Of course I can! No one will touch sensei!" Obito struck a pose and both Naruto and Himawari laughed. Glancing up at the sun, Naruto bit his lip.

"I have to go you guys. I'll see you later, be sure to make lots of trouble when I'm gone!" Obito laughed in agreement, but was quickly stifled by a scandalized Himawari.

"Be safe, Naruto-kun! Come home in one piece!" She shouted as he turned the corner. Naruto waved and picked up his pace. At this rate he'd be late.

* * *

Turning the last corner before his meeting point with Minato, Naruto just about had a heart attack. Someone he hadn't seen in a long time, and sorely missed, was kicking a stone looking quite miffed. His hair was shorter and the red makeup only reached half way down his cheeks. He still had his nose piercing though.

Jiraiya had been like a father to Naruto in the few short years they had spent together. When Pein killed him, it hurt worse than anything he had felt in his life, until Hinata had died. He still had nightmares about the corpse that Tsunade had eventually found. Being his godson, he had to identify the body for good, and release it to be buried in the old Uchiha cemetery. The only one that wasn't marred by the destruction Pein and Naruto's fight with the orange haired puppet had caused.

After a few painful seconds, his lungs demanded air, and Naruto sucked it in a little fast, choking on it, catching Minato and Jiraiya's attention.  
"Naruto! I almost thought you were going to be late!" Naruto smiled weakly at Minato's attempt at humour. As the pair of adults neared closer, Minato frowned.  
"Are you ok? You look like you've seen a ghost." Naruto broke his gaze away from Jiraiya and looked at Minato's matching blue ones.

"Uh, sorry, I was just choking on some dust. So, who's this?" Jiraiya's eye brow rose slightly, before he smiled and broke out into a dance that the blonde hadn't seen in years. When he was finished, Minato's face was in his hands, and Naruto was laughing.

"Hey gaki! Who're you laughing at? I'm the great Jiraiya!" Minato interrupted the pair with a waving hand before Naruto could react, or laugh harder.

"Hey, hey. Plenty of time to talk on the road. We've got to meet a team at the border in only three days." Naruto blew air out of his mouth.

"We can make it in a day if we really tried." Minato made a smug little sneer at him and said,

"Yea. I know that. I also know that we have a second mission that I will debrief you on later that we have to save our energy for." Naruto just sighed loudly and started down the road, not looking forward to three days of walking. Minato ruffled the shorter blonde's hair as he passed him, earning a small and defeated looking glare.

When dusk had started to fall, the three men broke for camp. By the time light had totally left the sky, a stew pot was boiling with game and vegetables, and the men were sitting on logs around the fire. Jiraiya had just finished telling Naruto a story about Minato as a child that left the younger blonde in tears, and the older blonde with a red face hidden in his hands. When Naruto's laughter died to a quiet chuckle, Jiraiya poured himself a bowl of the stew and asked Minato a question that made him spit out his stew.

"So you banging that girl yet?" Naruto protested loudly at the half eaten chunks of meat and carrots that his brother spat all over his sleeping bag. Minato wiped his mouth and shot his teacher a glare that was colder than the deepest pits of hell.

"What? I'm just asking!" Jiraiya said, holding in some laughter. Naruto, who had used a small wind jutsu to clear the stew off of his sleeping bag turned his head towards the older man.

"What girl? I haven't seen him with anyone since I got here." His eyes flickered towards his brother. Minato's face got redder.

"There is no girl. Sensei likes to joke about this girl I used to know in academy. I haven't even talked to her in like, 3 years. She's on some extended mission, I think." Jiraiya clicked his tongue, but didn't say anything else. Naruto opened his mouth to pry more, but a pointed look from Minato shut him up.

"Well, since poor little Minato doesn't want to talk about his fiery girlfriend, how about you tell me about yourself, gaki? Minato hasn't told me very much." Naruto bit his lip. Jiraiya from his time had been really good at telling when the blonde was lying to him. He'd lived by his background story for the better part of two years now and had gotten it down pat, but something about lying to Jiraiya, the man who had been the closest thing to a father he had, unsettled Naruto's stomach.

"What's he told you?" Naruto asked, glancing at the blonde beside him. Minato frowned slightly. Jiraiya shrugged.

"That they found you mangled up on the academy yards with nothing but scraps of clothes on you and no memory, apparently. The old man also told me that you died after releasing something that felt incredibly evil, and if it wasn't for the nurse in the hall beside your room, you would have stayed dead. I also want you to know that you are still being watched, and reported on." Naruto paled a little and Minato looked guilty.

"What? You knew that I was assigned to watch you and report on you. Mostly it's just how you are doing physically and mentally. Hokage-sama doubts you are a spy, but he, as well as I, is still curious as to where you came from. You sure you don't remember?" Naruto shrugged. He knew he shouldn't have felt as miffed as he did about being watched, since as Minato said, he did know.

"I remember parts of it, but I don't know where it is. I wouldn't have the first idea as to how I would go about getting back. I still don't remember what happened to me."

"So what do you remember?" Naruto shrugged again.

"I was poor. I lived mostly on the streets until I was old enough to build myself a little shack." Almost the truth. His old apartment he had was little better than a shack.

"I had a few friends, the ones whose parent's didn't tell them to stay away from, or the rebellious ones. But..." Naruto frowned. Sakura's glassy eyes flashed before his vision. He hadn't actually seen Hinata's body after she'd died. Neji wouldn't let him near it. Jiraiya frowned. He knew that look.

"Well, what about training? Your chakra system is much more developed than someone who just started training a couple of years ago."

"Sometimes ninja would stop in our town. We had a pub with some beds for travellers. Sometimes the nicer ones would teach us things to practice our chakras, and sometimes the meaner ones would teach us things that were dangerous. A little boy managed to blow his arm off doing one of that bastard's 'practices'." Minato winced. He hadn't heard that before. Jiraiya frowned. Something was off with the stories, but he wasn't sure what yet.

"That's pretty much it. I trained with the other kids my age until whatever happened brought me here. And I think I'm pretty good if I don't say so myself." Minato snorted.

"Yea, right. You'd still be tripping over your own feet if it weren't for my exercises, you ungrateful little brat." Naruto feigned an overdramatic display of hurt, before both blondes broke into laugh. Jiraiya grinned, but his thoughts raced through his head at a mile a minute.

"And Sensei confirmed that you guys are actually related?" Minato nodded, it had been one of the best days of his life. Family was something he had yearned for as a child. His memories of his parents were vague and full of an urgency that still woke him up in a cold sweat on particular bad nights.

"Yes, he had samples of our blood compared, and he matched mine 50%. So unless I was a very lucky 5 year old, this kid's my little brother, full blood." He roughed Naruto's hair up. Normally the younger blonde would have protested, but the pensive look on Jiraiya's face told him that the older man was thinking about things Naruto would rather he not.

"I've heard the theory that Sensei me about your parents. What I find so hard to believe was that after all these years and especially with the beginning of the tensions between us and Iwa, that your long lost little brother just lands on your lap out of nowhere." Minato pursed his lips. Naruto knew that the older blonde spent a lot of time wondering and looking for signs that he was an Iwa sleeper agent.

"It is hard to believe, but it's what I believe. Naruto has shown nothing but loyalty to Konoha. I don't want to have you talking down to him, Sensei. I have no doubt at all for his intentions. And besides, we all know that if Naruto-kun does turn out to be a sleeper agent, I'll be the first to strike him down." Naruto gulped and Jiraiya gave him a long hard stare. It was hard not to squirm, but he held the older man's stare until Jiraiya finally broke it with a laugh.

"Well, I have to admit, he's got guts!" Both Naruto and Minato relaxed visibly. Minato nudged his brother and said quietly,

"I think it's time we all went to bed, we have a lot of travelling to do tomorrow." Naruto nodded and didn't protest the early retiring. He doubted he would sleep much that night. Not very much got past the to-be Legendary Sannin, and Naruto knew that would not be the last batch of questions that he would have to endure in the future.

But for now, he'd have to make do.

* * *

End Chapter 5

Ugh. Sorry. School/Work are mostly to blame, as well as the massive writer's block I've had. But it's summer now, and my mind isn't buzzing with the nomenclature of organic molecules, or the velocity of a block sliding down a rough surface, or the adding and subtracting of sin/cos/tan/csc/cot/sec values using reference angles on circles, etc etc. I will be pumping out as many chapters as I can this summer. I want to try and finish it before the summers out. But, don't take that as a promise. I'm still being blocked a bit. I'm starting hardcore university in the fall and man, I am tired just thinking about it.

I also want to thank the group that added this story to their archives, which in turn caused quite a few people to fave my story in some way. I thank each and every one of you. Each one helped push me to get this story out for your sakes, and I apologize for its length, I needed to get the filler out of the way.

Thank you!


	6. Explosions and Dynamic Entries

Chapter 6

* * *

The sun was barely peaking over the tops of the lush tree tops when a few birds squawked loudly in protest and surprise. They flapped their brightly coloured wings to keep their balance as the branch they had been sleeping on shook vigorously. They vaguely registered the dark green blur that passed them by, but their small bird brains were quickly turned back to preening the morning dew that had collected on their backs.

Minato shot a look at Naruto after the bird's squawking had subsided. Naruto just tightened his lips. He opened his mouth to tell Minato off, but his jaw clicked shut as soon as he inhaled. Smoke. Definitely smoke. Tapping his nose, Minato focused a little extra chakra to his and his eyes widened in response.

The trio of ninjas were but minutes away from the border patrol's main camp. Normally smoke was to be expected, since the main camp was a permanent structure, and the border reports all stopped here to be reviewed before being sent back to the Hokage. A campfire or two was always running for light, warmth, and food.

As the trio climbed higher to the tree tops, the prickling on the back of Naruto's neck became apparent. The top of the fire that consumed nearly the entire camp could be seen over the top of the trees, and the amount of smoke that was being produced was starting to be blown their way.

Jiraiya was the first one to land at the outskirts of the camp, his geta sandals kicking up dust. As Naruto landed, Jiraiya smashed his foot down, digging the two slats of wood on his sandal into the dirt up to the sole of his foot.

"I can sense four life forms. All weak, only one is moving. Two are in the middle of the main building, second floor. One is around back, crawling towards the trees, one is in the basement." Minato nodded and said,

"I'll take the one in the basement. Naruto you take the one getting away." Before Naruto could protest, Minato was dashing into the building, tying a cloth around his face, followed closely by Jiraiya and his dirty sandal.

Naruto sighed before setting his sights on the back of the building. The lower part of the second unit that looked like it had been built directly onto the first unit had already collapsed. Naruto grimaced when he saw a blackened hand sticking out from under a large beam.

A groan of pain directed his eyesight to a man desperately trying to crawl away. The clothing on his back had been burnt off, and his back was a blistering mess of blackened skin and oozing red areas. Naruto winced. He debated knocking the man out first to ease his pain.

The man nearly screamed when Naruto made his presence known. The blonde put his hands up in front of him to show that he was friendly and said,

"I'm a ninja from Konoha, I'm here to help." The man nearly collapsed.

"You... You have to get away." He rasped. Naruto noticed that the man's hands were covered in splinters and his fingernails were broken and falling off. He had evidently been locked in somewhere and had clawed his way out.

"It's ok, don't talk. I'm going to make you sleep so it doesn't hurt so much when I move you away from the fire. Ok?" The man's eyes became more frantic.

"No! You don't... understand! A bomb! Any minute! In the... basement!" Naruto swivelled around and stared at the building. If anything, it seemed the fire had gotten bigger and more intense. Worst of all, he saw no movement, signifying Minato or Jiraiya's presence.

"Shit." He said, applying a quick sleep jutsu on the man. The man collapsed and he apologized before hoisting him up on his shoulders, audibly cracking some of the burnt skin on his back. Jogging as fast as he could carrying a man who probably weighed about 90 kilos, he deposited him a safe distance away from the fire and regardless of the flames, smashed right through the first floor window.

It had seemed like a good idea at first, a dynamic entry complete with glass flying everywhere. If only his friends could see him now. Especially Kiba; he would have thought that to have been badass. Naruto smashed into an already weak looking pillar and snapped the thing in half. The corner of the ceiling groaned loudly before collapsing.

Naruto managed to scamper and dive into the trap door left open by Minato just as rest of the floor came crashing down on top of him. He heard Jiraiya shout something, but paid it no heed.

The basement was more like a cellar than anything. The walls were merely dirt scraped out with roots being utilised as shelves, and in one corner a chair had been carved out of a particularly large branch. Stacks and stacks of paperwork-filled-filing boxes filled the room. Some of the stacks reached the low ceiling; a few of them were on fire lighting the room with a dim glow.

Minato wasn't in the room, and neither were any living bodies. One corpse he saw, shoved into a pile of paper, was covered in blood, and a closer glance showed that his throat had been cut. Naruto's lips pursed. A quiet tumbling sound turned his attention to the far corner, farthest away from the now covered in burning debris trapdoor. A hole, big enough for two people to crawl through was being dug. Relief trickled through his chest like a stream of cold water, cooling his mind in the intense heat the fire was creating.

The bomb was obvious. It was sitting on the old desk in the corner by the root chair. Who ever had built it even had the courtesy to add a timer to it. Naruto watched in horror as it passed the 30 second mark, and scrambled into the hole. If Minato hadn't disabled it by now, it meant that he felt there was not enough time. He felt slightly foolish for coming down here to rescue someone he knew perfectly able to handle himself, but he pushed down the feeling.

"Ni-san!" He shouted. There was no light in this tunnel for him to see. With Kyuubi gone he couldn't see in the dark as well.

"Naruto? What the hell are you doing in here! I thought you were supposed to be grabbing the guy around back!" Naruto heard the digging of whatever jutsu Minato was using stop.

"The guy told me there was a bomb!" Naruto was sure that if he could see Minato would have been giving him a 'well duh' look, but instead the older blonde just shouted.

"Of course there is a bomb! That's why I'm digging!" Naruto backed out of the tunnel as fast as he could and glanced at the clock. 20 seconds. Practically running on all fours, Naruto scrambled on top of the injured man Minato was dragging, and ignoring Minato's protests, he scrambled on top of the future fourth Hokage.

"No time!" Taking advantage the dark, and pushing down the regret he knew he'd feel for doing this, he formed a large swirl of chakra, pushing it together and making it spin at greater speeds until it was the size of a large watermelon. Biting back the technique's name, he pushed both of his hands into the dirt in a vaguely up direction.

Instead of drilling through the dirt like he expected when he performed the rasengan on trees, everything just seemed to explode in front of him. At first Naruto thought the bomb went off, but when he saw the light of the fire behind him, he realized that Minato had dug closer to the top than he had thought.

Looking behind him, he swore loudly. Minato was slumped over; a large scrape was beginning to bleed all over his fore head. Grabbing his brother, Naruto heaved him as far as his chakra, which was almost used up from the sloppily made odama rasengan, would let him. Minato landed about 20 feet away on his side, rolling a few times before stopping. He started to move, signalling to Naruto that the hit to his head from before couldn't have been that bad.

The injured man below him was next. Fortunately for Naruto, this man turned out to be young. Maybe 14. Young meant small and light, which meant that Naruto barely had to use his chakra to throw him out of the hole. The teen's landing was softened by Minato, who grunted when the body hit him. His eyes flew open and made contact with Naruto's just as Naruto was hoisting himself out of the hole.

Naruto got his body free, which had been mostly buried in loose soil from his quick dig, when a sharp pain throbbed up his leg. Twisting it around, he realized that his foot was pinned in between two rocks large enough for him to not even be able to budge them. Things just weren't going good for the young blonde. He looked up in surprise and fear, making eye contact with Minato before a deafening blast shook him to his very soul.

The earth seemed to move underneath him like a wave, before he felt himself being thrown forward and smashed around like a rag doll. Either something large and solid collided with his head, or his head collided with something large and solid, but his vision and every other sense he had blinked out.

* * *

Minato straightened his back out. He had crouched over the teen's body, an instinct after he heard the blast from the bomb go off. The shock on Naruto's face had been enough to completely wipe the mist that had been floating around his vision.

Taking a split second to make sure the teen wasn't in any immediate danger from falling objects, which seemed rather redundant when Minato realised that the bomb had taken out the building almost completely, Minato was on his feet in a flash, calling out Naruto's name.

Jiraiya stood up, pushing a plank off of his back, saying something to one of the two ninja he had successfully gotten out of the building, mere seconds before the blast detonated.

Minato quickly spotted Naruto. The blast had thrown him up into the middle of a nearby tree trunk, cracking the tree, and Naruto had tumbled down to the base and was by all means unconscious. Minato running so fast that one of the surviving ninjas that Jiraiya had saved would say that he appeared to be a yellow flash was down on his knees at Naruto's side checking his pulse. When the steady _lub-dub_ made itself present after a few seconds of frantic pressing into the blonde's neck, Minato's shoulders relaxed.

He gave the blonde a quick check over, and was relieved to find the only injuries were a few minor burns, scrapes, and bruises. Shaking Naruto's shoulder was the only thing needed to awake him.

"Ugh. Did we make it?" Naruto said, after sitting up, holding a hand to the bruise that was already darkening on his forehead.

"Yea, we did. C'mon, let's get the survivors somewhere safe, and clean ourselves up." Naruto nodded and after blinking a few times to clear his vision, he plodded over to where he had put the burnt man, still sleeping, safe and sound behind a tree.

* * *

Naruto sat with Jiraiya, helping him tend to the four shinobi's wounds. Minato had the most chakra left, so he was designated to putting out the fire before it spread to the forest. He also summoned a messenger frog to inform the Hokage of what had happened.

Jiraiya didn't say anything to Naruto until he was finished treating the man with the worst wounds. Naruto watched as Jiraiya slathered an ointment on the back of the man that the youngest blonde had rescued. The forced sleep jutsu was still in place, something Naruto was glad for. The man wasn't even twitching in pain, and Naruto already felt like throwing up from the mere sight of the flaking and burnt skin.

When Jiraiya had finished wrapping gauze around the man's entire torso, he turned to Naruto and said,

"Look very closely at this man. You saw his wounds; now look at his physical appearance. What do you see?"

"Uhh..." Naruto said. The man's clothes were burnt around the edges of the wound, but were relatively undamaged everywhere else, save the soles of his shoes being melted. There was no bruising, as would be apparent from a pillar falling on his back.

"Uh, it looks like he was shot in the back with a fire jutsu? There isn't any bruising on his shoulders."

"Did you notice anything else that seemed odd?" Jiraiya asked, pulling the gauze from a bag he unsealed from a scroll. He bent down to tenderly tend the only woman in the group's burnt arm. Two of her fingers were missing from the hand that Jiraiya held; the stubs had been cauterized closed.

"Well, the bottoms of his sandals are melted. But that could have been from running on the fire, right? His fingernails are all ripped to pieces too. Locked in a room?" Jiraiya didn't answer Naruto until he had finished delicately wrapping the woman's hands, only garnering slight wincing from the woman.

"The bottoms of his sandals are melted, sure, but why would sticks and rocks be sealed into the plastic if he was running on burning wood? Surely it would be charcoal, right?" Naruto glanced at the man's shoes before shrugging.

"So what do you thing? Whoever attacked him burnt his feet as well?" Jiraiya rolled his eyes.

"He was struck by lightning, you brat." Naruto made an 'o' with his mouth and said,

"Do you think this was the work of Kumo?" The woman whose hand Jiraiya had just finished wrapping up said through pain clenched teeth,

"No, they were definitely Iwa. One of them could call down lightning. It's not that unusual." Jiraiya tossed Naruto a roll of gauze and directed him to wrap up any burns that had blisters on the fourth man who had barely suffered any burns, but sported a nasty gash that streaked down the side of his face from his forehead to his chin. It had already crusted up, indicating that he had probably been taken out early in the fight.

Naruto just finished tying the last knot when Minato arrived, a sheen of sweat coating his face glinting in the morning sun. Letting out a breath and sat down and cross his legs.

"Alright. The fire's out and the ashes are smouldered. I think it's time for some questions. Miss, I noticed you seem to be able to talk, maybe you can tell us what happened? Also, if you could tell me what happened to the squad that was supposed to have arrived last night?" Naruto noted the hesitation in his older brother's voice when he asked the second question. The woman flexed her arm a little and gritted her teeth.

"It was a surprise attack, although how a squad of stupid rock nins got the jump on us is beyond me. It makes me want to go home and train until the rest of my fingers fall off. I am ashamed." She gritted her teeth again and let Jiraiya help her into a sitting position, with her back resting against his chest of course. Injured or not, he wasn't about to let a sexy lady go unsupported.

"A thunderous crash was all the warning we got. It was at about midnight, not 10 minutes after the relief squad arrived. One of their own was injured from the journey here and so they were busy tending to her. Can I ask you to stop petting my hair please?" Minato and Naruto both gave Jiraiya a flat stare, and the older man clicked his tongue and put his hand back on her shoulder to support her.

"Thank you. As I was...ouch...saying, we thought that the place had actually been struck by lightning. The top corner of the main unit was on fire, and the supervisor had been struck dead. We were alerted to this by one of the younger chuunin's shouts.

After that, it was all a blur. They swarmed in from everywhere it seemed. I counted at least 8 different shinobi, but they all had the Iwa insignia showing. We tried to fight them off, but they took us by surprised, and had locked a few of us in the only room with no windows. Some kind of seal had been placed on the walls or something because it felt like my chakra had been plugged up. I think it was Toji who managed to punch and scrape his way through the hinges on the door. We got out and more than half of us were hit by something. Probably rocks, they felt pretty hard. The next thing I knew Jiraiya-sama was lifting a plank off of his back, and saying something that I don't quite remember."

"I was just welcoming you back to the world of the living." Jiraiya said avoiding Minato's irritated stare.

"Can you tell me how many of our ninja were here when Iwa attacked? A few of the bodies are a bit... charred." Minato said gently. The woman bit her lip and gave it a good thought.

"There was the supervisor, my squad of 4, and the midnight squad. They had... uh, I believe it was 3. So that makes 8 of us." Minato nodded and stood up, signalling for Naruto to do the same. Naruto dusted off his pants and stepped back.

"Sensei please let this woman sleep. It's obvious she's in pain, and I know we don't really have anything that would help." Jiraiya nodded and pressed three of his fingers to her forehead. The woman's eyes fluttered before her head lolled to the side. He gently put her down and joined the brothers as they walked back to the ruins of the building.

"So what do we do about the secondary mission that you never bothered to tell me about?" Naruto asked. Minato grimaced.

"We count and identify the bodies as best we can. As far as I can tell, the mission is over and since it was A-class, you don't need to know." The younger blonde gave a small pout, but when it came to official rules, Minato was about as easy to bend as a cement pole.

The first two bodies were easy to find, and would be relatively easy to identify. Their faces were mostly intact, and one of them even had what looked like his wife or girlfriend's photo in his pocket. The third body they came across was charred almost beyond recognition. It was the one that Naruto had seen shortly before being blown up. The only thing that hadn't been completely destroyed by the fire was an amulet made of a semi precious stone clutched in the figure's left hand.

They spent 4 hours poking through every nook and cranny in the wreckage and around the encampment in the woods looking for the 4th and final body, but it was nowhere to be found.

Minato became visibly more agitated the longer the search went on. Naruto decided to intervene before he started tearing out his hair.

"What's wrong? You're starting to get a bald spot from the hair you've been pulling out." Minato quickly rubbed his hands over his head before glaring at Naruto.

"The last body. It's not here. I think the Iwa took her with them, which proves this was a planned attack, and not one of the random border attacks that Iwa has been testing their luck with." Naruto kicked a plank over.

"What makes you think it's a she? What about the body back there?" Minato shook his head and gave his teacher a look. Jiraiya's eyes hardened and Naruto's became more confused.

"What's going on?" He asked. Minato swore and Jiraiya summoned a frog that Naruto knew was the fastest he could summon.

"Gamakousoku, I need you to tell the old man that they've taken the Habanero, and we are in pursuit. Tell him we have 4 injured, one critical, and 3 dead." Gamakousoku nodded and with a ribbit the 5 foot tall frog hopped once, and was across the meadow so fast that several trees were uprooted in the back wind. Naruto had to hold onto Minato to avoid being sucked up with them.

Minato however, was miles away. His attention was focused northwest. His fists tightened, and his eyes looked harder and colder than Naruto could have ever imagined. He had no idea what was going on, or who this Habanero was, but it was bringing out the rage deep inside Minato, and Naruto was sure that Iwa would pay its fair share in blood.

* * *

End Chapter 6

Action packed! Hoo-ha!


	7. Red Strands of Fate

Naruto was pretty damn sure that he had never lasted this long without speaking in his life. It wasn't in his nature to not prattle on. The blonde suspected that it was a fear of the quiet and loneliness he had been subjected to his entire childhood, but he wasn't about to admit that to anyone. The past six and a half hours were tortuous. After Jiraiya had sent his toad towards Konoha, Minato had just leapt away without a single word, leaving Naruto and Jiraiya to quickly gather the supplies and scramble after him.

Naruto almost asked questions many times, but the looks and the mood that Minato had been putting off kept his mouth shut. After the first few hours he gave up and started to conserve strength. He didn't have Kyuubi anymore and his stamina was nowhere near the boundless well that it had once been. However the blonde was certainly proud that even with a body that was only 14 years old, his stamina and chakra reserves would still rival most jounin, but Naruto doubted that even a jounin could keep Minato's pace for very much longer. By the time Minato had just suddenly stopped, even Jiraiya's cheeks were starting to look a little red.

Minato on the other hand just looked angry. Angry and worried. In his hand he held several pieces of long red hair that Naruto hadn't noticed him holding before. Flopping over onto the grass, uncaring of the small rocks poking into his back, he tried not to throw up from the sheer amount of exercise he had been put through. Jiraiya handed him a canteen wordlessly, and caught the slightly guilty look that passed over Minato's face. The taller blonde glanced up at the sky and said,

"It's just after midday. We will wait until evening before we raid their camp." Naruto piped up for the first time in over six hours.

"Ok. Sure, no problem. As fun as it sounds raiding a camp that is no doubt filled to the brim with foreign ninja, I would kindly like to know why I just ran halfway across the freaking continent." Minato glanced at Jiraiya, only to wilt slightly under his teacher's disapproving glare. The jounin set his bag down on the slightly damp grass before sitting down himself. He could feel the familiar wear of chakra drain starting to creep up on him. A good meal and some rest before tonight would do him a world of wonders.

"The Bloody Habanero is a nickname for a friend of mine. She's been kidnapped before, almost exactly like this." Minato held up his hand and Naruto saw a few strands of long red hair dangling from them. "Last time she pulled out strands of hair infused with chakra for someone to follow. I managed to get her back in less than 6 hours that time. This time however, I only found three strands, and they stopped 4 hours ago." Naruto shifted, mindlessly helping Jiraiya set up camp now that he had caught his breath.

"How do you know where we are going?" He asked. Minato turned his head to face roughly north.

"I was keeping us a fair distance behind them. If I focus really hard, I can feel her chakra from here. The camp is only about a kilometre away from here." Minato rubbed his hair in frustration. "Sometimes I wish I was stupid and not so logical. If I was like that I'd have ploughed through that camp already." Naruto raised an eyebrow. Minato caught the look and frowned.

"What?" Naruto shrugged and said,

"Ni-san... Are you sure you aren't banging her?" Minato threw his bag at the shorter blonde, but Naruto was ready for it. With a loud laugh he ducked and caught the bag, swinging it around before gently placing it on the ground. He unclipped the bag and pulled out a collapsible pot. Jiraiya had started a smokeless fire already, and like a well oiled team, the two set up water to be boiled in less than a minute flat. Minato was impressed; it was like they knew each other already.

After their simple meal of rehydrated jerky was simmering, Jiraiya finally asked the question that Naruto had hoped he wouldn't have had to ask.

"So, what's the plan?"

* * *

Kushina sniffed sharply, trying to sound severe, but instead sounded more like she had a cold. Her nose had been completely and painfully smashed in when she had decided to let her temper get the better of her and spit in the leader's eye. She sat awkwardly tied to a post in a small tent in the middle of the camp that the Iwa nin had set up. There were 14 of them total, a rather impressive number for just a single kidnapping. At least 5 of them were Jounin too. Kushina almost felt smug.

Shifting her weight to relieve the pins and needles in her legs, she grunted as her jaw clicked and sent vibrations through her nose area. Blood had soaked her chin and the front of her beige jacket. Her hair was all tangled and roughly tied up after one of the younger nin had gotten fed up with it getting in his face as he marched her onwards. With her left eye completely swollen shut it was a harder to judge, but the redhead was pretty sure that the sun was starting to set. She gave a small, but decidedly devious grin. Almost time to start escaping.

* * *

The Iwa nin were on the point of celebrating. Not only had they kidnapped their prize, they had successfully destroyed one of the many permanent guard camps that circled the official territory border of Konohagakure. To top it off, there was no chance of anyone finding it for hours, leaving them to escape home free. Their evening meal was taken with smiles, but no alcohol was going to be passed around until they were finished with their mission. They may be arrogant, but they were not stupid. The little redhead had put up a fair fight, knocking out a total of 24 teeth from 11 of the 14 ninja, and 4 of them bore bald spots from her ripping large chunks out with her bare hands.

The camp was a set up in a small clearing in the middle of the woods. They were just past the ridiculously easy to pass borders of the Fire country and into the neutral Grass country. Kusa usually consisted of rolling and gentle hills, but in some areas the lush forests of the fire country spilled over the borders. The Iwa-nin that has picked this particular area to break camp chose it because of this reason, and because after a few long weeks of studying the passes that both Kusa and Konoha ninja made of their respective country's borders, it was the least likely place to be spotted, and if they had to be spotted, it was mostly likely going to be by Kusa, whom they held a neutral trade-treaty with.

Few of the fellow campers even stopped to think of the hours of preparation that the particular ninja put into the camp, but those that did raised their canteens of water in appreciation. Their Kage had assured them that capturing this woman would ensure their eventual domination of Konoha and the fertile lands of Fire.

So naturally when the muffled sniffles and shuffling of a pair of feet that weren't even trying to hide their presence were heard in the woods around the camp, all 14 of the ninja froze. You could hear a pin drop.

Another sniffle, closer and more frantic sounding, and the entire camp, still silent save for the fluttering of tent fabric, was a blur of motion and the ninja armed themselves and stashed their equipment in easy to reach places in case they had to leave in a rush. The fire was smothered with a bucket of dirt and a small hiss. It was still twilight so visibility wasn't hindered too much, and in the case of two of the shinobi there, wasn't hindered at all.

Kushina snapped her head up when the low buzz of conversation and celebration stopped suddenly. She had almost managed to get one of her wrists out of one of the numerous knots and binds by dislocating her thumb. She thanked whoever was watching for her that her left thumb was double jointed. Concentrating for any sounds, she felt, rather than heard the sudden pick up of motion in the camp. This set off alarms in her head. With a sharp jerk and a grimace Kushina popped her hand free and slid her thumb back into place. Whatever was going on out there probably wasn't anything good for her so she quickly turned to her other hand and began loosening the knots as fast as she could.

The object of the sniffling and loud shuffling through the undergrowth of the sparse forest turned the last corner, she choked on a half-sob and froze as she found herself facing a camp full of Iwa nin. Her red swollen eyes widened and her breath hitched as she turned to scamper back from where she came from. This was just not her night.

Before she even made a full turn she was grabbed and restrained by four of the shinobi, one of which slapped his hand over her mouth before she had the chance to make a noise. Dragging her back to the camp, six of the nin quickly and silently swept the area around for a few kilometres, but found nothing.

"Who are you?" The woman looked up at the commander's surprisingly soft tone. Her sobs had degraded into hiccups a few minutes previous, and after the sweep had come up clean, the fire had been relit and celebrations, although a bit warier than before, resumed. The woman rubbed her eyes with her dirty shirt and said,

"Y-Yoko. Dewataka Yoko." The commander along with his second and third in command, all sat around a second, smaller fire. Yoko was restrained with a simple piece of rope. Having next to no chakra and an unused system, she had been deemed no threat, but precautions were always taken.

"Alright Yoko-san, what are you doing here?" Yoko looked away as tears started to form in her eyes.

"I... I'm being chased." The third in command shifted uncomfortably. This woman looked uncannily similar to his sister back home, and he couldn't stand it when she cried. The first in command recognised the look of fear in the woman's eyes, and the bruises on her exposed arms and neck. The woman looked up and saw where they were staying and hugged herself in an attempt to cover them up with her bound hands.

"Please... Are you shinobi? Can you help me reach Taka?" No one spoke and Yoko's eyes turned desperate.

"Please! I can pay! I'll do anything to get away from... Please! Anything!" She had scrunched her eyes shut and dropped to the ground in the low bow. Her hands were scrunched together and held up in a pleading gesture.

The commander didn't say anything. He glanced at the second and third before sighing. The third moved to woman's side. He pulled her up so she wasn't grovelling in the dirt.

"Commander, I'm sure one of the younger ones would be happy to escort her to Taka." The woman turned her blue eyes back to the commander and looked him straight in the eye. The commander fought well and lasted well over a minute, but in the end, even he couldn't stand the look of utter defeat that she was putting out. He sighed loudly and tiredly, rubbing his cheek.

"Only if you can find a volunteer, a chuunin preferably. I want her gone by midnight; we won't be staying here too much longer anyway." The woman laughed and rushed in to give the commander a hug after the third untied the rope.

"Thank you so much! I will never forget what Iwa has done for me!" The commander patted her back awkwardly before pushing her away.

"See to it that she gets something to eat and perhaps a spare shirt with sleeves. It's cold out tonight." The third saluted before the woman hugged him as well. The commander shook his head as he watched the woman move towards the larger group of shinobi still celebrating.

"That was a good thing you did, commander. 14 ninja for 1 Konoha scum was a little overkill anyway." The commander glanced up at the second with a frown, but didn't say anything.

* * *

Kushina shook her wrist to get the blood flowing again. It had taken her nearly 15 minutes to untie the mess of knots that she was sure was overkill. A guard had come in to check on her once, sending her heart into a frenzy against her chest, but he had neglected to look behind her at the bindings, and instead sneered at her and called her scum. Kushina had snorted at the time. He was the one whose head she had pulled a full handful of hair from, and as she recalled, he screamed like a girl afterwards about it.

A rustle from outside the tent behind her made her heart jump to her throat. She thrust her hands back behind her and tried to calm her poor heart before she went into cardiac arrest. Agonizing seconds passed before Kushina let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. Nothing. Someone must have been grabbing one of the bags piled against the back of the tent.

So naturally when a cold hand clamped down over her mouth, Kushina didn't even think and bit down as hard as she possibly could. She felt the arm belonging to the hand stiffen, but remain where it was. Despite the blood she could taste in her mouth, the voice didn't scream or make any noise other than a short grunt. After a second she realized that she hadn't been stricken, and spat the dirty and bloody hand out. A blonde head peer around to face her. Elation rose in her chest until she got a good look at his face.

"Who the hell are you?" She whispered. The blonde totally ignored his bloody hand and gave her a sly wink.

"We're here to rescue you." He brandished his kunai and leant towards Kushina's hands until she pulled them out and held them up.

"What the fuck took so long?" Naruto simple raised an eye brow before quickly sawing through the binds that went halfway up each of her calves. When he was done, Kushina stood up with a wobble, grabbing onto Naruto's shoulder.

"Ok, you'll be about a kilometre away in a few seconds so don't scream. We need the element of surprise." Kushina blinked as Naruto whipped out a large three-pronged kunai. It had a seal wrapped around the hilt. Putting a finger to his lips, he threw the kunai down and in a bright flash of light Minato stood in the tent in all of his blonde glory. Kushina only had time to whisper his name before he grabbed her arm and in a flash they were gone.

Naruto blinked, trying to rid his eyes of the white dots. He summoned a kage bunshin and had it transform into a pile of ropes. Gripping Minato's special kunai in his hands, he settled his feet into the loose stance that his brother had been teaching him for the past two years and waited for the flood that was sure to come.

This was going to be fun.

* * *

Yoko was sitting around the fire chatting quite animatedly with some of the younger chuunin and jounin when a bright yellow flash filled the entire camp site. It had seemed to emanate from a tent in the middle of the camp. Everything went still for a short moment before exploding into action. Most of the shinobi rushed towards the tent, while a few stood back and formed a small defence around her. Worry twisted in her gut.

However when a second flash of yellow went off, all of her worry disappeared and a feral grin stretched across her face. She took the kunai that the youngest ninja there, a 15 year old chuunin, had given her when the first flash went off, and drove it into the back of his head. He dropped like a sack of potatoes. The nin standing next to him got a chakra spiked punch to the face that probably knocked the rest of his teeth out. Shaking her hand she lurched forward as one of the smaller nin jumped on her back in an attempt to knock her down. Scrunching her eyes up, she released the chakra dampener and the henge she had on.

When the smaller nin saw that the short woman he had jumped onto turned into a tall man with a fierce grin all he could do was let out a squeak. Jiraiya straightened his back before dispatching the small nin with a quick jab to the throat. The tent that had contained Kushina exploded sending Iwa nin flying and screaming. By now, the camp was in almost total chaos.

Another yellow flash blinded the camp and men started falling left and right. The few that Jiraiya had not managed to get a good enough grip on to stick a small sealed paper onto were left screaming and trying to run away. A slash of wind cut through three tents before gruesomely severing a fleeing Iwa nin. Jiraiya pulled the kunai out of the back of his first victim's head. His own head snapped up when he heard Naruto's familiar shout.

This was no time to worry about the blonde. They had vermin to exterminate. Minato had killed or maimed the sealed targets and was now working on the rest of them. Jiraiya saw him force a mishmash of pure chakra into the gut of a man who was missing quite a bit of hair from his head and managed a whistle as the rough sphere in his hand explode ripping the man's midsection to pieces.

The tall white haired man whipped around to kill whomever was behind him, but stopped himself short when he saw it was Naruto, covered in blood and holding his side, but otherwise intact. He was smiling grimly.

"Ah, the fighting's over. That was quick. You ok, gaki?"

"Don't call me gaki, old man." Jiraiya scoffed, but inspected the boy, who was now seated on one of the long logs that the Iwa Nin had pulled up around the still burning fire.

"Ah, that's a nasty gash you got there. But it's not deep, you'll live. Besides, chicks dig scars!" Naruto rolled his eyes and pressed his ruined jacket back against his side. Minato approached the pair holding his right arm wincing every time he jostled it.

"Can you two pile everything in the middle and burn it? I need to go check on Kushina. We'll set up camp at the spot we discussed." Naruto saluted and Jiraiya gave Minato's arm a glance before nodding. He'd deal with his foolhardy student later. Instead he slapped his hand (rather painfully as Naruto would add later) onto Naruto's back and gave a laugh.

"Alright gaki, time for the real work to start!" Naruto smiled and gave a small painful laugh. It really was just like old times.

* * *

END CHAPTER 8

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas!


	8. In Which Minato Feels Useless

Chapter 8

* * *

Kushina sat on a fallen log, rubbing her bruised and raw wrists and staring absentmindedly at the leaves of the trees as they swayed in the wind. A particularly strong gust raised goose-bumps on her arm, causing her to shiver and rub her upper arms.

A bright flash of yellow light lit the entire clearing and made spots dance around in Kushina's eyes. Her heart leapt to her throat and the wistful look she was sporting was wiped off and replaced with a look of utter annoyance. Minato blinked a few times before crossing the small clearing and handing her a wet shirt. Kushina looked at Minato with confusion before slowly accepting the sodden shirt. Minato softly said,

"Your face is covered in blood. I figured you might want to clean up a bit before the other two get back here." Kushina made an 'o' with her mouth and thanked Minato timidly. She carefully dabbed at her face to loosen the dried blood before slowly and tenderly wiping off what she could.

Minato was pulling out what looked like ration bars, jerky, and the standard black shirt and pants that all Shinobi ranked chuunin and above were issued. When Kushina had finished, he took the sodden shirt and handed her the clean clothes without speaking. Kushina was starting to worry at his lack of speech, but dismissed it as exhaustion from the rescue.

Kushina was not a shy person. In fact most people would willingly call her the loudest and most outgoing person that Konoha had seen since Jiraiya was a child. She generally had no qualms about stripping down to her undergarments in front of teammates to change clothes quickly, but something about Minato seeing her that nude made her heart stumble and her face match her hair. So she found herself clutching the bundle of clothes to her chest and hiding behind some trees as she slowly lifted her now ruined yellow shirt over her head.

* * *

Minato's face took on a small tinge of rose as he heard Kushina changing not 20 feet behind him. Her long absence from Konoha had changed her a lot more than he had thought it would, and he barely got a good look at her. Minato was of average height, about 5'11" and he had been that height since he was 15. The last time he saw Kushina, the top of her head barely went over his shoulders, and now it looked like she could scrape the bottom of his nose. He also noticed that in the 3 years she had been gone, she had gotten noticeably toner, losing most of the roundness in her face that she had been teased so mercilessly for as a child.

Footsteps and the rustling of bushes signalled that she was done, and Minato turned around. His clothes were too big of course, but something about her in his clothes looked utterly ridiculous and adorable at the same time. A snort made its way out of his nose and Kushina sent him a glare dripping with acid. Minato sighed and sat down next to her, handing the Jerky and ration bars that he had pulled out earlier. She hesitated until he said,

"Eat. We ate just before we came to get you, so don't worry about us." Kushina nodded and mumbled a thanks. Minato watched her face with amusement as she made various faces to the tastes of the foods, but continued to frown in her general direction. Finally, after she managed to swallow the last of the cardboard the hospital called ration bars, she spoke up for the first time since she had seen Minato.

"Is there something on my face?" Minato blinked; apparently stunned that she had spoken. Kushina lifted a brow and crossed her arms. Minato rubbed the back of his neck and grinned embarrassedly.

"Was I staring?" Kushina nodded pointedly and Minato continued. "Sorry, and to answer your question, you still have blood all over your face, but I don't think you'll be able to get it all off until you take a bath or something, so don't worry." Kushina groaned and ran her fingers across her cheeks, feeling the left over grit of dried blood. Her left eye still felt tender and swollen but she could open her eyelid and see unfocused shapes now that it wasn't sealed shut with blood. Apparently there was a good sized gash over her eyebrow as well. It had scabbed over, but Kushina honestly couldn't remember when that had happened.

"Are you feeling OK, Minato?" Minato frowned and said,

"Of course I am what would make you think otherwise?" Concern ran across his face before he could stem it down and Kushina sighed. She knew what was wrong now.

"Listen. I am fine, OK? This isn't the first time I've been kidnapped you know." Minato let out a long sigh, his shoulders drooped in relief.

"Are you sure? You're really quiet, and to be frank, I've never seen you this hurt before..." Kushina rolled her violet eyes. She wanted to feel special for the obvious concern and attention he was doting on her, but Kushina knew better. She knew he was a generally nice guy and would do this for anyone. She tucked the wrapper from the ration bar into one of the pockets in the overly large pants and pulled her old clothes onto her lap to check them over for holes and rips.

Minato jumped when he heard the bushes behind them rustle. He hadn't realized that he had been focussing on Kushina so hard. He was drinking in everything from the way she held her hands, like that of a kunoichi used to quick and subtle movements, to the look of sadness and wisdom she held in her eyes. He had half a mind to ask her about the prolonged mission she had been on, but knew to give her time. She'd eventually talk.

* * *

Jiraiya tried not to jostle the boy on his back, but every few steps he took was accompanied by a quiet grunt. The way the kid acted towards his injuries, with caution and the right ways to clean them quickly and on the go, it lent his back story some belief. Well, more so than he and Sarutobi had initially taken it for. The sage sported a grin when he saw Minato making googly eyes at Kushina before the blonde heard them approach, and grinned even wider when Minato finally did hear them and was surprised in a way that no shinobi worth his 2 cents should be.

He dropped the bag of supplies and other things that he and Naruto had looted off the Iwa nin before piling their bodies together and setting it ablaze. Despite being enemies, they were still soldiers taking orders and deserved a proper send off. He saw Naruto close his eyes for few seconds and move his lips in what he assumed a quick prayer before Jiraiya had noticed that his wound had opened again and the blonde was having difficulty walking. He squatted to let the boy climb onto his back rather than just toss him, something that Naruto found hilarious and embarrassing at the same time.

The look that Minato sent Jiraiya's way was one of contempt as he rushed away from Kushina towards Naruto and helped him off Jiraiya's back. Naruto hissed and pressed the already blood soaked and ruined jacket even harder to his side. Minato's mother hen instinct kicked in and it wasn't long before Naruto was threatening to hurt himself even further if the older blonde didn't lay off. Jiraiya just laughed and sat down beside Kushina.

"So who's the kid?" Kushina asked, suspicions already forming. Jiraiya glanced at Minato, now settled down and focussing on stitching Naruto's side up. Naruto was wincing, but taking it rather well for a 14 year old.

"Long story short, he's Minato's little brother who showed up 2 years ago after someone mangled him horribly and left him to die in a playground for all the nice shinobi children to see." Kushina didn't even blink.

"Are you sure he's not... well..."

"A spy? A sleeper agent? Well we can never be too sure. I just met the brat at the beginning of this mission, but I can definitely say that if he's a sleeper then he's damn good at getting people to like him." Jiraiya paused for a second; Minato was done stitching and was proceeding to dress the rest of his wounds.

"His blood tests proved positive towards being his brother, and his age is appropriate towards Minato's own origins before I found the runt." Kushina was staring at Naruto. Something about him seemed familiar almost. She wasn't sure what, but her eyes kept being drawn to the dark slashes down his cheeks, 3 on each side. She glanced back at Jiraiya for a moment before asking,

"Where did he get those scars on his face from? Do you know?" Jiraiya just shook his head.

"I'm going to do a basic scan of you, just to make sure there is no lasting damage. I know you will probably be fine in a few days but I just want to make sure." Kushina flinched but nodded. Jiraiya's hand lit up in the medical green that Tsunade had pounded into him after her brother had died, determined to make sure no one she loved would die on her watch again. Jiraiya set his lips grim, remembering the look of utter hopelessness in her eyes the days following Dan's death. The white haired man placed his hand on top of Kushina's feverishly warm forehead. He cast her a glance, but her eyes were screwed shut.

The scan showed no signs of fever, so he figured it had something to do with the beast in her belly. Bruising almost everywhere, she'd be black and blue tomorrow, cuts and scrapes from fighting, rope burns on her wrists and from her ankles to her knees. Those would probably be gone in the morning. The most severe thing he could detect was the swollen eye and the broken nose.

"Your nose is going to set crooked if you don't set it soon. Other than that, you'll be fine in a day or two." Kushina sighed as Jiraiya removed his hand. She tenderly touched her nose and sucked a sharp breath in pain.

"Is it really crooked?" She asked tentatively. She didn't want to have to touch her nose if she could help it.

"Eh. Not terribly. You just gonna leave it then?" Kushina nodded. She wasn't focussed on beauty to get her by in the Shinobi world. It wasn't needed in her specialty anyway. Running her hands through her hair she winced at the knots and tangles and started to pick it apart.

"Jiraiya-sensei, you wouldn't happen to have a brush would you?" Jiraiya snorted but pulled a comb out from his pocket. Kushina smiled and started to work on the mess that was her hair.

* * *

Naruto finally managed to convince Minato that he could finish the dressings himself. The older blonde's mother henning tendencies were getting a little overbearing and Naruto felt he had to be at least 10 feet away before he could start ignoring Minato watching his every little move.

"I said I was fine! We need to start moving again, right? I'll be fine." Minato hovered a few moments more before resigning himself to tend to Kushina. Turns out she had similar ideas about him being overbearing. Jiraiya shook his head at his student before shoving the bag of loot into the lost looking blonde's arms.

"Take this, I'll take the gaki, Kushina-chan can take herself. We'll find shelter and discuss what we will do tomorrow. Got that?" Minato nodded slowly and ended up taking the rear position, feeling slightly helpless at his inability to help more, but able to sneak a few peeks at how nice Kushina's butt looked from what he could see through the sweatpants.

* * *

The sun was just beginning to set again when Jiraiya found a place deem-able to camp for the night. The first thing noticeable was the large rock that formed an overhang which protected them from the back and the top. The area surrounding the camp was covered in crunchy gravel which would alert them of approaching enemies. Jiraiya wasn't particularly worried of anyone find them though; he himself wasn't even sure of where they were. He'd have to use the stars to get back out to civilization.

As soon as he gently set Naruto down, the boy was digging in his bag for food. They had been walking since before dawn and had only stopped for lunch. Everyone was tired and Kushina was starting to get a little snarky. Not that Minato noticed. Jiraiya saw him eyeing her rear a few times and chuckled at his favourite student. After Naruto had single handedly set up a fire and started a pot of stew with some noodles and a packet of ramen flavouring (from his last cup of instant ramen) Minato put his hand to his chin. He had just finished setting up the tents when he realized something that was probably going to cause him a great amount of grief. He sat down around the fire as Naruto ladled out bowls of his stew/ramen concoction. He had discovered that Kushina's favourite food was ramen as well and the two were almost instant best friends.

"Why the long face, Ni-san?" Naruto asked as he handed the older blonde a bowl. Minato looked up at Naruto and said,

"Well. We only packed two tents, one for me and Naruto, and Jiraiya's." Naruto looked puzzled, Jiraiya looked delighted, and Kushina had a mixed look of embarrassment and horror.

"So what are we going to do about this?" The red head asked. She was struggling to prevent her face from matching her hair. She knew that the only tents that were usually used were two person tents. They were light, small, and in standard 4 person cells, only 2 were required.

"Uh. I don't know... I'd rather you decide actually." Kushina sent a half hearted glare at Minato. She sighed heavily and pointed at Naruto who was serving Jiraiya.

"Naruto, tonight you are sleeping with me." Naruto's face turned bright red and he nearly dropped Jiraiya's bowl (the white haired man quickly grabbed it before the blonde ruined it and sent Naruto a dirty look) and said,

"W-what?" Kushina sighed again before saying,

"You have to share a tent with me tonight, or you're sleeping under the stars." She looked up at the darkening sky, "It looks like it's going to rain tonight, so it's your choice." Naruto frowned but nodded. He moved back to the pot and scraped the last of the stew, loudly complaining about how he wished he had cooked more of it.

* * *

When it finally came time to retire for the night, the air was thick with tension. Kushina was feeling a little awkward, but mostly because she had just met Naruto the day before. She felt a little bit of regret and missed opportunity pass through her when she didn't ask Minato, but he probably would have freaked out and she was just too tired. Jiraiya was out of the question as she had known the man for years and he was certainly sure to make everything worse.

Thankfully she didn't have a change of clothes so she wouldn't have to worry about Naruto walking in on her undressing. The kid was only 14, but she remembered her hormones raging at that age and well, it would have been weird. Instead she laid out Naruto's sleeping bag beside the one that Minato had graciously lent her. He'd be sharing Jiraiya's larger one instead.

She was already in her bag when Naruto quietly and carefully unzipped the tent. When he saw she was already in her bag relief washed across his face. He shrugged his shoes off and took his shirt off earning a few eyeing of the various scars and bruises that ticked his skin. Scars were something unfamiliar to Naruto. Before he was thrown back in time, the only thing that had ever left a scar that hadn't healed itself within a few months was the pale swirl of where Sasuke's chidori had impaled his right shoulder, complete with the matching exit hole on his back. In a way Naruto was glad he still had the scar. That battle had been one of the more significant ones in his life and was a constant reminder of what he had to do to change what he could and hopefully save his best friend's life. After the Kyuubi had deserted his body however, while his healing rate was still better than most people, it was pathetic compared to before. Many gashes and cuts ticked the blonde's body and the stitched wound on his side was sure to leave a wicked one. The blonde set his shirt down carefully and kneeled down. He glanced at Kushina and said timidly,

"Sorry, I have to change this before I sleep on it. I'd rather not wake up with an infection caused by night sweat." Kushina nodded and said,

"Do you need any help?" Naruto shook his head and smiled at her. He went about carefully peeling the bandage off to reveal an angry looking wound before using a small piece of gauze to wipe it with alcohol. Kushina winced along with Naruto when he took the first wipe. Looking away she came up with a way to hopefully distract him from the pain he was undoubtedly feeling.

"So, Naruto-kun was it? Tell me about yourself. Jiraiya-sensei tells me you are Minato-kun's brother?" Naruto spared her a quick glance before grimacing and nodding.

"Yea, that's me. Namikaze Naruto. I'm 14, genin, and Ni-san has been my teacher since I came out of the coma he found me in. Apparently someone thought it would be funny to beat the shit out of me and toss me in the playground a couple of years ago. I bet I was the source of excitement at the academy for weeks." Kushina grunted out a small laugh. The story was so horrible it was almost funny.

"Did you have family? Other than Minato-kun?" Naruto shook his head.

"Not really. Just some close friends. I'm still missing huge sections of my memory, but I haven't yet remembered anyone caring for me. I suppose I just assumed I was an orphan and lived as a street rat until I ended up here." Naruto paused to unwrap a piece of gauze.

"What about you? As far as I can remember Ni-san's only mentioned you once in passing when I was like 12." Kushina felt miffed. She pursed her lips and said,

"Well, that rat bastard. My name is Uzumaki Kushina and I'm 19 years old. I was born in the Uzushiogakure but I was relocated to Konoha shortly before it fell." Naruto had paused. His head was down and looking at his wound and he was pressing into his side hard enough to bring tears to his eyes. Of all things, he had not expected her to say that. Uzumaki... that was a name he hadn't heard anyone say in years. He hadn't actually expected to find someone with his last name. He wondered if they were from the same clan. Maybe he had finally found some long lost family!

"Naruto-kun? Are you ok?" Naruto looked up, his face schooled into a grimace.

"Yea sorry, I got my finger caught on one of the stitches." Kushina sucked in a breath. Naruto finished putting the gauze on his stab wound and crawled into the sleeping bag. Kushina clicked the electric lamp off and laid out on her back, trying to find a comfortable position amidst her bruises.

"Kushina-san, can I ask you a personal question?" Naruto asked quietly after a few minutes of silence. His brain had been ticking away and he just couldn't help it. He felt Kushina turn her head towards him.

"Shoot."

"Do you like my brother?" Kushina was glad it was dark; her face was as red as a tomato. When she didn't answer, Naruto felt a little shamed to have offended her.

"Err- sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or anything..." He said quietly. Kushina didn't move or say anything for a good 10 seconds.

"Uh- no, it's ok. I just didn't expect that question." She was quiet again for a few minutes. Naruto had all but given up on her and his eyelids were starting to droop when she said in a voice that belonged to a mouse,

"Yea... you know, I really do. Since the first time I was kidnapped when we were genin. He told me he really liked my hair as he carried me back to Konoha. I had hated it back then, but after that... Well..." Naruto was quiet for a long time before saying,

"Be patient. I'm definitely not the most observant of guys in the world, but it's damn obvious to me that he's definitely into you. He's never treated any of the other girls with this much attention. I think the only one who could compete for the attention he puts on you is me." Naruto paused and through her shock Kushina could almost see the look of annoyance on his face. "God he's so friggin over protective. I think he considered asking me to stop being a ninja when he found out we were related. I could see it on his tongue. But man, nothing he does can compare to the first week after that. It was ridiculous." Kushina giggled and said,

"Ok, ok. I can definitely see that, he was a bit of a worry wart when we were kids. But seriously now kid, we have to get to sleep. I still have to talk to your brother about the mission that we were supposed to do together." Naruto's interest was piqued, but Kushina shut him down. He eventually gave up when he heard her breath even out. Sighing he rolled over and eventually fell into a restless sleep. The one thought that had been repeating over and over in his mind was one that was going to haunt him for months.

From everything he had drawn together, including Kushina's long standing relationship with Minato, her clan name and where she was from it explained many things. There was one thing that he was almost 100 percent sure of.

Kushina was his mother and she was a babe. He was so proud.

* * *

END CHAPTER 8

Wow, sorry, no action in this one. I wanted to get some good ol' character development in there! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and read, I really appreciate it!


	9. This is Getting Awkward

Chapter 9

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes and sighed, he hadn't gotten a very good night's sleep. The wound on his side made sitting up a very painful experience. But once he did manage to get up, he noticed that Kushina was missing. Her sleeping bag was rolled and tied up, so he wasn't worried. He tugged a simple black shirt over his blonde spikes and after rolling his bag up he exited the small tent.

Dawn was streaking over the sky in vibrant pinks and blues. Everything was wet, testifying to Kushina's prediction of rain, and it was quite chilly. Minato, Jiraiya, and Kushina were all sitting around a small fire talking quietly. Minato noticed Naruto first and gave him a large smile. The younger blonde settled down between Kushina and Jiraiya and said,

"How long have you guys been up?" Minato shrugged and said,

"Not long, don't worry. We just finished starting the fire." Kushina piped up and said,

"Sorry, you just looked so tired, and I know you didn't sleep very well so I thought you might enjoy an extra few minutes." Naruto gave her a small smile, but it was hard to make his lips move that way. Kushina's skin was more mottled black and blue than not, and every movement caused her to grimace. The way she ignored it however, told Naruto that she would rather not talk about it, so he followed suit.

"Ok, well, now that everyone is here, we can discuss whether or not we are still able to complete this mission." Jiraiya's face was grim as he said this, causing Kushina to look down guiltily. Minato hesitated for a second before snaking his arm around her shoulders and giving her a reassuring squeeze. Kushina sighed quietly when he let his arm drop.

"What is the mission anyway? I still don't know." Minato shook his head at his brother and said,

"It's an infiltration mission but that's all I can say until we decide on taking it or not. It's very sensitive." Naruto pouted, but didn't say anything else as Jiraiya continued.

"We have 4 from an original 7, but we may still be able to make this work." Kushina shook her head and said,

"Souma-san's abilities are lost; I'm not so sure we can." Minato wanted to grab her hand to reassure her, but he didn't want to intrude on her personal space.

"Come now child, surely it might be even easier to play your role if you are by yourself. We already know that this man likes to be by himself, it makes for an easy target. The only ones whose job is going to be more difficult is us. We have to provide the distraction." Kushina shrugged and said,

"I guess. I know this is a critical mission, so if you think we can pull this off Sensei, I will agree to do it." Minato hadn't said anything yet, but after a few glances at Naruto and Kushina he said,

"Will we be able to still pull this off if we are a few days later than the scheduled time? Naruto-kun and Kushina both need a bit more rest before we take on something this important and have any hopes of completing it properly." Jiraiya nodded.

"I timed this originally to give us a month of leeway, and we are still on time, so we can take our time." Minato nodded and Jiraiya forced a small smile before saying,

"Alright, it's decided. We are going ahead with this." Naruto was finally at the end of his ability to not talk and spoke up.

"Can I know what's going on? I can already tell by the seriousness of this that we are participating in an assassination." Minato lifted a brow and Jiraiya said,

"Ha! What an observant brat. Indeed we are, Naruto. The target is a member of the Tsuchikage's council." Naruto sucked in a breath.

"If this is ever traced back to Konoha the results would be disastrous." Minato nodded in agreement.

"Very true," Minato said, "which is why Konoha's best is on this team, despite the few members lost. Not many know it, but Kushina is ANBU's best assassin, and Jiraiya has a vast spy network that he singlehandedly runs. I'm the escape cover, and you, Naruto-kun, were included in this partially because you are my brother, which provides us with a better cover, and because Hokage-sama has recognized your ability to improvise on the field." Naruto saw Kushina look at Minato with a glare of irritability when he revealed her position in ANBU. ANBU identities are supposed to be secret because they technically didn't exist.

"Well, what was our cover going to be...before?" The younger blonde asked carefully. Jiraiya shrugged, but Kushina answered this time.

"We were going to be a travelling caravan from Kiri, but we don't have enough people anymore, so I propose we use these next few resting days to think of a better one." Jiraiya rubbed his hands together and said,

"Oh my dear I already have the perfect one." The look of horror on Minato's face as he even contemplated what his teacher could think of was enough to put Naruto into stitches.

* * *

A few hours later found Naruto and Jiraiya lounging in a tree several kilometres away from the base camp. The weird and suspicious looks that the older man was giving Naruto were a little disconcerting, but in all honesty, Naruto missed him fiercely and this was golden time on his part.

They had just taken down a small deer and were in the process of cleaning it when Jiraiya said,

"Why did you look so surprised to see me when we first met?" Naruto stopped what he was doing and looked up at the elder man. The question had come out of nowhere and surprised him.

"Uh, what? What do you mean surprised?" That was all he could think to say in the few milliseconds he had to think. Jiraiya narrowed his eyes.

"Don't play stupid boy." Naruto froze again, his heart pounding, "That was the first time I had met you, but by the look in your eyes, that was not the first time you had met me." Naruto opened his mouth after a moment of shock to explain, but Jiraiya cut him off.

"Don't even try to say that you recognize me from pictures, because I know very well that pictures of living shinobi are few and far between with most being kept a secret. The bingo book is mostly sketches for a reason." Naruto's jaw clicked shut. The damn old man outsmarted him again.

"Well?" Jiraiya said impatiently. In his head he smirked, the boy was squirming and looking for an answer.

"Uh, well Ni-san was your student and he talked about you a lot. He also hinted that we might be doing a mission with you soon...and well... I'm a huge fan." Naruto's cheeks reddened when he said this, "I don't know why you think I've seen you before, other than the bingo book sketch and the picture of you and your genin team that Ni-san has, but you are pretty recognizable!" He finished with an exuberant smile, hoping to change the atmosphere. Jiraiya kept his gaze firmly on the blonde's face for a full minute, looking for minute signs of lying before he too broke out in a grin.

"Ha ha kid, ok. I believe you." _For the most part_. Naruto visibly relaxed, but tensed up again when he saw Jiraiya give him an extra look. It was a look that Naruto knew quite well. It generally meant that the toad sage believed him, but knew he was holding something back, and he intended to find out what.

The rest of the cleaning process was done in silence as Naruto tried to form up solid back stories for any kind of question he thought he would get asked, and Jiraiya contemplated what the boy had said. They dragged the kill back to camp in mostly silence as well, only stopping to reapply dressings to a torn stitch on Naruto's side. Naruto wasn't sure if it was revenge, or just a way of picking on the boy, but Jiraiya called Minato over as soon as they reached camp and told him about the broken stitch, which caused Minato to hover frantically over his younger brother. Naruto quite verbally cursed Jiraiya, but only got the older man's cackle in response.

* * *

They had decided that it would be best to stay for 5 days, or until Naruto's wound fully closed, whichever came first. Kushina's mottled skin had completely vanished by the second day, and her broken nose was completely healed shortly after that. Naruto's wound, much to Jiraiya's surprise, was almost completely covered in scar tissue by the third day, allowing them to move at a much faster pace. They reached a small town after a day's worth of travelling and with Jiraiya's instruction pilfered some ratty farmer's clothes. After they had donned them, Jiraiya sat them down and explained their cover.

"Ok, I have come up with the perfect cover that will suit us four." He rifled some torn up passports from his bag.

"I had the toads fetch these from a friend of mine." He said as he handed one to each of them. Kushina opened hers and saw the fuzzy black and white photo beside her fake information. According to this she was Watanabe Kaori. Leaning over she saw Minato's passport claiming he was a Hizoto Makoto.

"Hizoto Naoki? What kind of a name is that?" Jiraiya snorted.

"I picked names that would be easy to remember. Hizoto was my mother's family name so I expect you to not dishonour it please." He looked down at his own passport. The name he had been using on and off for various infiltration missions was Hizoto Raido. He had upped his age ten years however.

"Alright children. Minato and Naruto will continue to be brothers, and you will be my brats. Kushina, you'll be Minato's fiancée." Minato coughed and both of them turned red at this. "Also Kushina-chan, I have something to ask of you that will be difficult, but it will enable us to leave after everything is done with minimal suspicion." Kushina narrowed her eyes, she had an awful feeling she knew what he was going to ask her to do.

"We are playing the roles of refugees from Kiri. It hasn't been made to the general public just yet, but any jounin worth his salt knows that there has been unrest about kekkai genkai in Kiri. They've even starting slaughtering clans because of it. While none of us have a blood line, our neighbours did, which put us under light as sympathizers. However, Kushina's mother had specialized chakra that she passed down to Kushina, which explains the apparent usage that she shows, despite not being a shinobi, it gives us another reason for leaving. We didn't want to take the chance that it would be mistaken as a blood line." Kushina gave a very short nod. She wished that Jiraiya hadn't mentioned her chakra, but the best cover was a cover built on truths.

"I will be a retired ninja. I was injured in the second secret war and was honourably dismissed from active duty. I married a civilian girl whose family owned a small farm and we lived there until she died of an illness 4 years ago. Although she didn't approve, I taught you two, my precious sons, basics in chakra control and taijutsu because I wished for you to be able to defend yourselves or if you had ever intended to leave the farm to serve as ninja." Jiraiya swept a look over the small crowd of three and said,

"Everyone got that?" They all nodded, Naruto was smiling excitedly.

"Naruto, what's your name?" He asked quickly, and was pleased to hear the blonde say,

"Hizoto Naoki!" Minato let his lips quirk up in a smile.

"Sensei, what about you? You don't look old enough to be my father, nor do you really look like either of us." Jiraiya grinned.

"You leave that to me. But first, I need to take Kushina into town to pick up some supplies. You two stay here. You need to dispose of anything shinobi related that can't be purchased by civilians except the weapons. We will sort through those when I get back." Naruto nodded and Kushina looked surprised.

* * *

The town was small but it was midday and the small market area bustled with activity. Kushina helped Jiraiya pick out some hair dyes that matched the boy's, and he insisted that she buy a few trinkets to stash away to make it look as if they were really relocating in the event that their bags were stashed. Combs and a very old looking necklaces, as well as a few nice looking, but old plates and cups were carefully wrapped in cloth and placed into a bag. After a few hours, Kushina finally turned to Jiraiya and said,

"Alright, what do I have to do?" Jiraiya's face split into a devilish grin and Kushina sighed.

"We need to throw suspicion off of us, so I need to disguise you as being heavily pregnant." Kushina buried her face in her hands.

"No, you see it's a really good distraction. Our story about wanting to raise the child in a better place with better protection will get us into the city better, and no one even registers pregnant women as threats. Minato's mother henning tendencies will also come in handy." She looked up at Jiraiya with desperation lacing her violet eyes.

"Really. Do I really have to do this?" Jiraiya nodded and she buried her face again.

"Just think, after you finish the mission, you can fake your death via childbirth. The three of us will depart claiming that we can't stand the place anymore, and I trust you will be able to get out of the city without being detected. I have several contacts that can help with this. It should be the easiest infiltration mission ever performed." Kushina groaned and Jiraiya lowered his voice.

"I want you to be really careful though. I've come to think of you as my own and not to mention it would kill Minato if anything happened to you." Kushina blushed, but she nodded. It was times like these that made her miss her parents. They had died very shortly after she had been born and she had been passed around various relatives until she was about 6. After the Kyuubi had been sealed into her by her great aunt Mito, she had been kept under constant watch for the next three years by the Sandaime's wife until her chakra was deemed stable enough to not be a problem.

When Kushina arrived back at the camp with Jiraiya later in the afternoon, she was surprised at how well the boys had cleaned up the area to look like nothing had been there at all. She tugged Jiraiya down to the river nearby to dye his hair, surprising both of the boys when they came back. With blonde hair Jiraiya surprisingly looked like he could actually pull this off. White streaks left in his hair really added years to him. He wouldn't even need any extra touches to age him enough.

Kushina on the other hand, puzzled for the rest of the night how she was going to convincingly pull off looking like she was a full term pregnant woman. She thought of a pillow, but they didn't have any and when she tried shoving clothes under her shirt, it looked lumpy and unrealistic.

Unfortunately for her, Naruto chose this time to climb into the tent. He froze when he saw what she was doing and she gave a squeak that reminded him of a certain Hyuuga girl.

"It's not what it looks like!" She said rather hurriedly. Naruto looked at her sceptically.

"I don't know what this looks like in the first place." He said after a few moments. Kushina sunk down on her sleeping bag, the clothes still under her shirt. Her face was bright red through her hands which she kept mashed against her cheeks.

"Can I ask what you were doing? Or do I not want to know." Kushina breathed heavily for a few seconds trying to get her face back to normal colouring.

"Jiraiya told me that the best way to get in and out with the least amount of suspicion would be to pretend I'm a weak and helpless pregnant woman." She explained everything that Jiraiya had told her that afternoon. When she finished Naruto had his hand on his chin.

"I can't get it to look realistic enough. I don't even know what a pregnant woman would look like!" Naruto knew, although he didn't say. It was painful to think about still, after all of these years. He had an idea however...

"Do you know how to invert jutsu?" He asked and Kushina shrugged.

"I've never really tried. Are you thinking of inverting a henge?"

"Sort of." Naruto replied. Kushina grimaced and tried to lecture him on how henge worked, and that it wouldn't be substantial, but Naruto held his hand up before she got carried away.

"I said sort of. I taught myself henge when I was younger; it was easier to buy food when no one knew who you were." Naruto frowned curtly at the last few words, but continued. "I didn't find out until Ni-san showed me that I had been doing it wrong the entire time. I had actually invented my own way of doing it, although it takes a lot of chakra." Kushina snorted.

"I have a lot of chakra, so we won't have to worry about that." Naruto raised a brow and Kushina turned away.

"Ok, well, what my version did was make a touchable version of henge. I'm still not sure how it works completely, but it's helped me get out of a few scrapes here and there." He didn't mention that he used to use to get back at the perverts of Konoha back when things were still good.

"If you inverted it, you could add anything to your body, or change your body entirely, and to any but the absolute best of the shinobi, it would look natural. However, like I said before, it takes a massive amount of chakra. I have really high reserves, and the last time I used a full body one, it took almost all of it. I ended up spending three days in bed after it." He had been trying to escape his brother about a month after he came home with the news of their relation. He had transformed into a clothed version of his Orioke jutsu and spent a day on the town, so to speak.

"Like I said before, I have huge reserves. I can tell just by sitting here that I have at least twice the chakra you have, and that's until I get tired, not beaten." Naruto was taken back. He had _a lot_ of chakra. Even now he was on par with Minato in terms of reserves, and since this body was only 14 years old, it was only going to grow. Something was nagging him about this entire thing.

"Why?" A long time ago, Naruto learned that it was almost always easier to just ask outright than to snoop around and discover it for one's self. It might not have been as fun, but that was beside the point.

"Why what?" Kushina asked, although she was racing for an answer in her mind.

"Why do you have so much chakra? Is it a blood line?" Kushina shrugged.

"Kind of. I'm not really sure. I've always had it." Naruto narrowed his eyes. She was hiding something, it was probably the reason she had been kidnapped, but he would let it go. It was obviously something she didn't want to talk about. So the blonde shrugged and averted his gaze and Kushina let out a tiny breath.

"Ok, well anyway, here are the hand signs." He flashed slowly through the hand signs. Once he felt that Kushina had gone through them enough, he said,

"To get the shape you need, it's very similar to henge, just think of the shape and cover it with skin. The hardest part about this jutsu is to give it a real look and feel by giving it a weight." Kushina nodded, mentally picturing, and blushing, over what she would look like.

"Ok, I'm ready to give it a try, I think." Naruto nodded and scooted back. Kushina stood on her knees slowly went through the signs. Naruto felt his cackles rise as she applied a large amount of chakra to her hands. Her chakra felt weird and familiar at the same time. It was smooth, but he could feel it raging behind her control. When she said she had a lot, she wasn't lying.

Kushina calmly called out the name of the jutsu, and when the small puff of smoke cleared, she unwound her hands and looked down. Running her hand over the bump on her belly, she sat back down on her heels. The thing on her stomach had weight for sure and it felt extremely real.

"Wow! That looks pretty real! I don't think it's big enough for someone just about ready to pop, but we still have time to work on it. How does it feel?" Kushina rubbed the protrusion and shrugged.

"I feel like a cow." Naruto burst out laughing. Minato, who was busy cleaning up the rest of the camp, swung his head towards the youngest two of the crowd's tent. He frowned, stamping down a twinge of jealousy he was feeling for his little brother. What he would do to be in Naruto's place right now (he would probably have eaten those words if he knew just what Kushina and Naruto were doing.)

Minato quickly realized what he was thinking and rubbed his hands on his face in an attempt to make his blush disappear. He busied himself with cleaning rather vigorously before retiring for the night. Thankfully Jiraiya was already sleeping and he didn't have to deal with another night of lectures on how to behave towards women and teasing talks of the birds and the bees. Giving one last longing sigh, Minato closed his eyes. Tomorrow they would be setting out for Iwagakure, and they would need all of their energy.

* * *

Chapter 9 END

Whew! Hahaha this chapter feels a bit awkward. I was trying to portray Kushina being mortifyingly embarrassed the entire time, but understanding Jiraiya's point. Minato is going to have a hay day with this!


	10. Naruto Finds his One True Love

Chapter 10

* * *

It was a pleasant summer morning in Iwagakure. Being so far north as well as being up in the mountain range that made up most of the Earth country, the morning air was laced with a small twinge of cold. Birds called out to greet the sun and the first of the morning's travellers in and out of Iwagakure, the self proclaimed greatest of ninja nations. Two chuunin were stationed at the entrance. The first was of average height and had sandy blond hair. His eyes burned with exhaustion. He barely had an hour of sleep under his belt. The second man was a little bit taller and shiny black hair cropped close to his head. He, unlike his partner, was alert, and was chatting nonchalantly, although the amount of attention the blonde was paying to it made it seem like the raven haired man was talking to himself.

The raven haired Iwa ninja waved as a merchant flashed his business papers and left with a horse drawn wagon. An older genin team without their instructor flashed their mission seal with an irritated frown before disappearing down the partially hidden trail that led to the village. The first visitors were finally appearing, and it was this group that caught the tired man's eyes.

The group consisted of 4 people; 3 men and a young woman. It was the woman who caught his eye. Her face was slightly red from exertion and the cold in the morning air which only served to intensify the shock of red hair she had that fell down to the back of her thighs. Her nose was slightly bent to one side, but it didn't detract from her looks at all. The main thing that really caught his eye however, was her stomach. She was heavily pregnant, her belly sticking out like a watermelon. She had one hand underneath supporting the extra weight and her other was holding her worn out looking jacket tightly around her shoulders.

Standing beside her and holding her arms as if to keep her steady was a blonde man who appeared to be in his early 20s. Worry was written all over his face line with dark circles of exhaustion under his eyes. He was too far away for the guards to hear what he was saying, but it looked like he was trying to soothe the woman and by the look on her face she wasn't having any of it. The youngest boy who looked to be in his mid teens looked better off than any of the others. His face was fixed in an expression of annoyance and the oldest man there who was just reaching his prime with streaks of white lacing in his sunny blonde hair looked to be filled with mirth around the disfiguring scar that went from his ear down into his shirt and apparently was long enough to give him a permanent limp.

When they reached the gate guards the boy set down his bags and opened them to fish out their passports. Handing them to the oldest of the group, the first words of the day were exchanged.

"Can you please state your names, reasons for visit, where you came from, and how long you intend to stay?" The chipper black haired guard spoke this in a friendly tone. The oldest man handed the four passports to him and said,

"I am Hizoto Raido, and these are my sons Naoki, my youngest," Jiraiya pointed at Naruto and he straightened up after clipping the bag back together. "This is my eldest Makoto and his lovely soon-to-be wife Watanabe Kaori." He gestured at the pair and Kushina gave weak smile and a short bow. Minato just nodded his head. Jiraiya continued when the guards finished eyeing up the newcomers.

"We are refugees from the... problems that have arisen in Kirigakure." Jiraiya lowered his voice and looked around briefly before saying, "Our neighbours had a kekkai genkai and although we have no problem with them, we didn't want to be hung for sympathizing." The older of the two guards nodded. Despite being a chuunin, he had actually heard the whispers of civil war in the mysterious sea-bound country.

"We intend to stay as long as we are welcome. As you can see Kaori-chan is about to bless me with my first grandchild and I would like for him or her to have a wonderful and safe life." Jiraiya emphasized the word 'safe' and both guards nodded in agreement.

"Ok, your passports check out so everything is in order. You'll have to wait here until we can get you an escort to the immigrations office, it shouldn't be too long, and Watanabe-san looks like she might want to sit down." The tired looking guard held his hand out towards a bench and Minato herded Kushina over to sit on it.

"Do you guys have any place to stay until you can find a place for yourselves yet? More family perhaps?" Jiraiya gave them a wide smile that put both guards at ease. Naruto tried to memorize it after he saw its affects.

"I have an old lady-friend who is graciously letting us stay in her spare rooms until we find footing. Bless her."

Jiraiya continued to make small talk as Naruto took in the bustling village. Iwagakure was one of the few countries that Naruto had never visited in his past life. After the 3rd war it was closed off to Konoha and her allies for the most part.

Despite the early morning, Iwa was bustling with activity. It reminded Naruto of a greyer and rockier version of Konoha, actually. Merchants were shouting about their wares, women were scolding their children, and other children were laughing and playing despite the hour. It was oddly comforting to the youngest blonde.

They didn't have to wait long before the chipper guard snagged a young genin to escort them to the immigrations office. The boy was about Naruto's age and after getting over his initial complaining about having to do work for the "lazy ass gate guards" he was actually quite hilarious to talk too. For Naruto anyway, the youngest blonde got the feeling that neither Kushina nor Minato thought much of the immature genin. Jiraiya seemed to think everything that annoyed Minato was hilarious.

Naruto was almost sad when they reached the office. The genin however, waved him off and said that it wasn't that big of a village, they'd meet again. Naruto accepted this answer and followed his 'family' into the office building. Naruto compared the large white immigrations building to the bustle of the village outside and was stunned into silence. The building was huge, white, immaculate, and so quiet he felt uncomfortable stepping on the stone floor for fear of making a noise. Thankfully a small beady-eyed man ushered them to a table to wait for an agent before they had to ask anyone.

When they finally were quietly greeted by an equally small and beady eyed woman, who sat down at her desk and took their names, Naruto spaced out. Anything that needed to be said could be told by Jiraiya. He seemed to have their cover story down to an art.

It's not an uncommonly known fact that Jiraiya is a pervert. Naruto knew from various sources that he had been like this from a very young age, and instead of nipping this problem in the bud, his own sensei silently encouraged it with his own lecherous behaviour. What is often a surprising and unknowing fact about the white haired legendary sannin is that he can be incredibly smooth with the ladies. He is a master of the arts of manipulation with words, and is one of the few men of the shinobi world to really excel in espionage.

Naruto managed to space himself out for a grand total of 5 minutes. That was when he saw the woman's flat face start taking on shades of red. The tone of Jiraiya's voice as he explained their story, not particularly passionately but rather casual and conversational in tone, drew both of them into the conversation, but for different reasons. Naruto learned that he had a bit of a talent for picking up mannerisms and movements if he actually sat down and watched. Minato had practically beat the discipline required for his muscle therapy into him in the first few weeks out of the hospital. It was like looking at the world with new eyes. Naruto edged around it, but the fact that the entire village wasn't either glaring at him or looking at him with adoration helped him from being distracted.

The youngest blonde thoughtfully watched as Jiraiya displayed the appropriate body language to flatter and inspire trust into this woman. Subtle movements of his hand, reaching out with his eyes, it was simply astounding the youngest blonde. He wished that he had learned this earlier. His childhood might not have sucked as much.

Jiraiya had almost finished with his account of their travels to Iwa when the front doors were slammed open loudly, causing everything to stop and turn towards the noise. A tall middle aged woman stood in the morning light as it poured in behind her. She had her hands on her hips and a smouldering smile. Everything was still and silent for a full few seconds as her large dark eyes scanned the cubicles until she met with Jiraiya's eyes. Her smile slightly enlarged and she threw her hands up and said, very loudly,

"Raido-kun!" Jiraiya's face lit up like a festival and he stood up, opening his arms to welcome the busty broad in for a hug.

"Beni-hime! It's been too long." Beni had already rushed into Jiraiya's arms, and before anyone could say anything, the two were sharing a passionate kiss.

"Dad what the hell!" Both the younger blondes shouted in unison. Kushina didn't say anything, but her mouth was practically on the floor and her cheeks were rivalling her hair. Jiraiya broke the kiss and Beni had to take a breath. He gazed over at his 'children' and gave them a meek smile.

"This is the beautiful woman who has graciously offered us room and board until we can land on our own feet. Hijika Beni-hime." Beni laughed softly and shook the three shocked ninja's hands before straightening up. Jiraiya glanced at the administrative woman he had been talking to earlier and flashing another lady killing smile, he wrapped up the signing of their papers and ushered his family out of the stark building.

There was no conversation other than Beni and Jiraiya talking loudly about mundane subjects like the economy and Jiraiya's fake injury. Inwardly Naruto was still surprised at Jiraiya's actions, but his reputation as a super pervert hadn't come from nowhere and as Naruto grew up, he realized that Jiraiya probably worked hard for the reputation. So as surprising as it was to see it in person, Naruto wasn't terribly fazed.

Minato on the other hand, knew that his sensei had a healthy appreciation for women, didn't know that he actually got any. He had no idea that his sensei could act like this, or that he could actually find a woman to go along with his act. That train of thought only raised more questions that Minato resolved to ask his sensei later when they were in a more private setting. For now he settled into his role as a worried father, and earned himself a harsh pinch from his red-headed friend.

* * *

Beni's home was a modest three story building, built into the rock of the canyon wall that served as a natural defence for Iwa. Despite being three stories tall, the building was rather narrow, only allowing for a few rooms each level. Beni's was on the top floor, and the guest rooms that Naruto, Kushina, and Minato were to stay in were on the second, with most everything else packed into the first floor.

After everyone had been settled in it was still fairly early in the afternoon and with permission from Jiraiya, Naruto went exploring.

The streets in the market district were packed to the brim, and it took the blonde nearly half an hour to squeeze to the other side of the crowded street. When he finally did make it out, he took a deep breath of relief and nearly cried when a familiar scent hit his nostrils.

_That smells like ramen!_ He said to himself, and when he turned into what he thought was an alley way, he saw the entrance to a small ramen bar. Sliding under the curtains he sat down in one of the seats and smiled happily at the menu. It had been weeks since he had had the stuff, and he needed something to fill the aching hole of his cravings. The old man behind the counter was fat and red cheeked. As soon as he saw Naruto he gave a loud welcome and asked the blonde what he wanted.

"Miso ramen with extra pork and eggs please!" The fat man winked and set about making one of the best bowls of ramen Naruto had ever had. It almost rivalled some of the bowls at Ichiraku's, and that was really saying something.

"I've never seen you around kid; I'm sure a ramen lover as yourself would have been mentioned by my fellow colleagues..." The man trailed off wanting Naruto to continue, and after a moment to swallow his mouthful of food, he said,

"I just got here! My family is moving here so my brother's girlfriend can have her baby in a safe place! Although it might be because my dad wants to hook up with an ex girlfriend or something, I don't know, but I'm sure glad I found this place!" The fat man laughed and gave Naruto a free second bowl, much to his eternal delight.

Glancing at the clock on the wall, Naruto's eyes widened when he saw it was past 6 o'clock. He pushed himself up and bowed hurriedly and said, "I have to go, I was supposed to be home over an hour ago! Thanks so much for all the good ramen! I'll be seeing lots of you, I can guarantee that!" The man laughed again but reached out to grab Naruto's sleeve before he left.

"Hey boy, what's your name?" Naruto quickly replied with "Naoki." "Come back here tomorrow at about noon if you want a job. I've been looking for an extra hand to help around the store with cooking and delivering. Be sure to ask your father first though!" Naruto smiled heartily and took off running as fast as he could without chakra enhancements.

The uproar that Minato raised was expected, but the scolding he received from Jiraiya wasn't, and he supposed that if Naruto hadn't told them that he got a job he wouldn't put it past the white haired sage to bend him over his knee.

"This is a foreign ninja village, you stupid boy, what if you had slipped up? All five of us, including Beni would have been strung up for all to see. That's what happens to spies here. Do you want that?" If Naruto could, he would have wilted. The one thing he hated most was disappointing his loved ones, and Jiraiya was more like a father to him than anyone in his life.

He could have left it at that, gone to bed, and started anew tomorrow, but despite being over 30 years old in his head, having the body of a teenager sometimes took over and Naruto mumbled something along the lines of 'how he knew what he was doing, it's not like this is his first espionage mission'. Jiraiya didn't respond, but the feeling that he had tuned into situations where things didn't feel right started itching as he watched his "son" stomp away to his room. He watched the boy go, and resolved to have a little chat with him later.

Turning to the rest of the household, he ushered the red-faced and sputtering Minato and Kushina off to their room that they would have to share, and turned to Beni, who had an impressed look on her face.

"Kids! Always arguing. In my day if I tried to pull something like that my mom would have smacked me upside the head." Beni laughed and said as the pair made their way up to the top floor,

"You picked a phenomenal team to bring with you, the younger one has the attitude I'd expect of any of your whelps and if I didn't know better I'd assume that maybe he really is yours. Tell me Raido, did you woo some pretty blonde somewhere only to be given a gift a few months later?" Jiraiya laughed and gave her a few light kisses around her mouth. He was certainly going to enjoy this mission.

* * *

END CHAPTER 10

Sorry! I have been so busy with a strike that f-ed up the entire schedule, moving twice, trying to balance having two homes, being sick, working two jobs, and life in general! This chapter was also hard because the more I write the more I realize that the ending to the arc is going to make less and less sense, so I had to rethink the entire thing. This chapter has been scrapped three or four times, so my apologies again! Thanks for all the reviews and faves that I got in my time of absence though! Also, don't expect another chapter this summer, but I might surprise you!


	11. There's No Such Thing as an Easy Mission

Chapter 11

* * *

Never did Naruto think that working in a kitchen would be so exciting. The thrills of meeting new and interesting people every day and getting to be surrounded by his favourite food for hours at a time almost made him rethink his lifestyle. This train of thought often caused him to crinkle his nose in thought. Maybe if he was ever disabled in battle and was forced to retire he could work in a ramen stand. It was definitely something that even after almost a solid month of doing 6 times a week he never got bored of.

Wiping his forehead and pushing some dangling blonde strands back into his headband, Naruto plunged his hands into the steaming tub of water in front of him and pulled the plug, causing all of the dirty dish water to drain. Before he could start to dry them the bells on the bottom of the door curtains rang and the blonde snapped his head up.

"Dad!" He called with a large grin that Jiraiya gladly returned. Naruto gave a glance at his boss, who in turn raised a hand with all 5 fingers extended signalling that he was willing to allow the blonde a 5 minute break, and folded down the top of his apron to dry his hands on.

Jiraiya waited until Naruto was seated before saying, "How is your shift? Was the dinner rush busy today?" Naruto shrugged and said, "A bit, but no-one seems to be ordering out much tonight so I've been staying mostly in the kitchens. What's up? Want some ramen? You don't usually come to visit." The frown that Jiraiya formed on his face made Naruto's heart skip a beat.

"It's about Kaori-chan." The older man turned his eyes so that they didn't meet Naruto's. The younger blonde knew that this day was coming soon and had tried to prepare for it, but the suddenness caught him unawares and so his heart started beating faster and his face drained of colour. Thankfully to his boss who was eavesdropping, it looked an awful lot like he was worried about his sister-in-law and not about the exciting flee and possible fight to the deaths that were about to come his way.

"Is she going to be ok? Is there something wrong with the baby?" Naruto managed to choke out. To be perfectly honest, Naruto didn't have to act as hard as he had originally thought he would. Living with Jiraiya, Beni, Minato, and Kushina was a lot of fun. Sometimes he would find it so easy to fall into his role that he would have to remind himself that he was on a mission. Thinking about how he missed Himawari and Obito certainly helped though, he hoped they both enjoyed the gifts he had gotten them.

Jiraiya shrugged and said, "Well as you know she went into labour last night, we all heard her screaming. Beni and the midwife say that it's going to be a really hard birth," Jiraiya lowered his voice and, although still loud enough for the eavesdropping ramen chef to hear, still managed to sound sombre and choked said, "The midwife used to be a medic nin in her younger days and she says that the baby might not make it and Kaori's vitals are starting to drop. Makoto's an absolute mess."

Naruto paled considerably more. That was pretty much code for 'your stuff has been packed for a week, and the plan is going to be put into motion tonight, so be prepared and on guard.' Still, it stung to hear that his fake family was falling apart. At least he'd get to be around when Kushina and Minato finally stopped being stupid and started their own inevitable family down the line.

"Are you going to be ok?" Jiraiya asked, placing a large hand on his shoulder. Naruto nodded but didn't speak. Jiraiya stood up and stretched slightly, but pushed down on Naruto shoulder when he moved to join him.

The older man gave him a kindly smile and said, "No, finish your shift. Time will fly and maybe by the time you come home tonight you'll be an uncle." Naruto look absolutely downtrodden but Jiraiya just smiled tiredly. "If anything happens I'll come get you, I swear. Ok?" Naruto nodded, "Ok. Bye Dad, tell Ni-san and Ne-chan that I wish my best, ok?" Jiraiya nodded and left with a tinkle of the bells.

As soon as he had left, Naruto's boss came around the corner and gave the boy a sympathetic smile. "If the late dinner rush isn't too bad tonight I'll let you home early." "Thanks boss." Naruto replied, trying to calm the quivering in his voice that his boss thankfully mistook as trying not to cry.

His boss held up a long receipt and said, "Well, in the meantime, you have three deliveries due in the next hour so I suggest we work extra hard for Kaori-san's sake!" Naruto shook his head and gave a small laugh as he grabbed for the ticket.

* * *

Minato put on the act of a worried father-to-be very well. He paced the area outside the small house built into the rock for an hour before going inside only to be kicked out again by the midwife. Several older neighbours, men and women alike tried to console him in their own ways, and even another man who claims his wife had just had their first child a mere week ago told him that he had nothing to worry about and he acted the same way when his wife was giving birth.

Minato acted grateful for the reassurance, despite the difference in situations. He was extremely nervous that something would happen tonight when Kushina moved in for the kill on the council member. He had spent the last month training for a desk job in the Tsuchikage tower, just a small job that Beni had set him up with until he could find something that could better support his growing family, and along with the numerous insiders that only Jiraiya knew about, they were pretty sure that they had this assassination down to an art. Butterflies were trying to burst through his belly though, and not so deep down, Minato was anticipating something going wrong.

After Kushina went in all contact was going to be severed until their rendezvous outside of the village. He was worried for a multitude of things, but he was mostly worried that although she looked perfectly healthy, it wasn't even two months prior that she had been beaten into pulp. The rate at which she had recovered from that was surprising, and he was starting to suspect that she either had a bloodline that allowed faster healing, or she was just being stubborn as usual. He was leaning towards the second option.

Another old woman came to pat him on the back and tell him that everything would be fine, but his mind was miles away, trying to visually map out and plan the entire ordeal, including the major and minor details that were involved. Most of Kushina and Minato's nights in their embarrassingly shared bedroom were spent trying not to look at each other in the eye while they discussed over and over the details of how things should be going down.

His cheeks reddened a bit at that. He realized over this past month how much he actually liked this girl, but despite Naruto telling him how much she liked him back (enough to try dating at very least is what he said) he just couldn't muster up the courage to initiate anything. He resolved to ask her on a date by the time they reached Konoha. Hopefully she wasn't bored stiff with him and would say yes. Smacking his hand down on his fist and wearing a determined face, Minato slowly remembered what was supposed to be happening in the building and degraded back into pacing and fretting, soon to be joined by Jiraiya who was back from informing Naruto, and his friend named 'bottle of sake'.

* * *

Fortunately for Naruto the late dinner rush died down to a near crawl. His boss had told him that after he finished this delivery he could cash out, take his tips, and go home to see if he was an uncle yet.

It was almost 11 pm and it was pitch black out. Most of the shops were closed, with only a few bars dotting the long main road of Iwa. Naruto took a deep breath and gazed around. This was probably his last night in Iwa. Well, possibly, he wasn't sure how long they had to stay in the village to process the 'death' of Kaori.

The customer he was delivering to was a regular, and Naruto delivered to his place at least once or twice a week. Sometimes he ordered ramen, and sometimes not, but he always tipped generously and for that Naruto couldn't help but like him, despite being a bit of a snob. He was a director of merchants or something and was fairly well-off. His house was a large building that was ornately painted and near the centre of the village where all of the other rich people lived. When Naruto approached the gates the guard waved with a smile that the blonde returned, and let him in. He ordinarily just dropped the food off in the kitchens, but when he saw that the lights were off he hesitated.

"Hello? Delivery for Taika-san?" He half shouted, hoping that someone heard him. Thankfully a sleepy head poked around a corner rubbing a tired eye. She eyed Naruto up and down and said, "Oh, it's you. Uh, Ok, here follow me. I'll..." she broke off in a yawn before saying, "I'll take you to Taika-san's den. He'll be working late again I suspect." Naruto nodded hiding his disdain at her blunt tone.

Naruto had never been in the house farther than the kitchens before and so he treated this like any 14 year old would and tried to stare everywhere at once excitedly. The place was sparsely but smartly decorated, with the odd tapestry here and a thoughtfully placed vase there, but it kind of underwhelmed the blonde. He hid his disappointment very well however; he wasn't stupid enough to accidently offend someone.

Before long they came upon a pair of guards that were relaxing against the wall. As soon as the woman leading him turned the corner, they both straightened and greeted her. When Naruto stepped into view, they both eyed him suspiciously.

"Uh..." Naruto held up his bag, "Delivery?" He said, smiling nervously. The closest guard took the bag from him and proceeded to open each container. Naruto started to protest but a glare from one of them shut him up. After taking a small taste from each container, the second guard frisked Naruto quickly. By the time the second guard was finished, the first had all of the containers closed and back in the bag.

"Sorry kid," he said, "Standard procedure. The Boss has been a little paranoid these days." Naruto shrugged and he guard continued.

"Just go down the hall and it's the first door on the right. Be sure to knock or you might get a face full of kunai." A look of apprehension must have entered Naruto's expression because the second guard started to laugh quietly. The first shook his head and pushed the blonde to get him started down the hall. He turned to thank the lady who took him here, but she had already disappeared.

* * *

The guards watched him disappear down the hall and knock quietly on the door. When they heard Taicho's voice calling him in, they both turned back to face the opposite direction. This was the easiest job that the pair had taken up so far. Their boss was paranoid, but not in any real danger, which made this very good and safe money for the pair. They were childhood friends, both academy dropouts that had enlisted in the reserves. The reserves got most of the at-home jobs, like guarding houses, doing security patrols and the like. The one thing that separated the two of them from the rest of the group, and something that often had gotten them jobs before this was their choice of weapon.

Long bamboo spears that stood at almost 6 feet with an extra foot of sharp steel tips stood beside them. They were hard to use, and although they were kind of awkward to use in a house, the reach that they gave them in hallways made them worth it, despite their horrible throwing accuracy.

A crackling noise followed by a crash and the sound of glass breaking had both guards suddenly alert and running down the hallway with their spears wobbling the entire way. The first guard whipped the door open and blanched. He stopped in the doorway and was suddenly pushed forward as the second guard rammed into him. When the second guard saw what the first one was gaping at, he too stopped to gape.

There standing in front of him was the ramen boy. His face was white and his eyes were wide. On the ground in front of him was a broken glass dish, it contents in a heap among the shards. Behind the desk that the bowl had been knocked off of was Taicho's body still sitting in his chair. His chest had a large blackened hole in it where his heart had been. There was minimal blood due to the wound being cauterized as the attack had passed through it. His head, however, was being held a good few feet away from his body in the hands of a figure dressed completely in black, even his face was covered, save for the eyes. All four people looked at each other for a heartbeat before everything broke out in chaos.

* * *

Minato stared at the clock. It was nearing 1:00 in the morning. Kushina had been 'dead' for over 2 hours now, and he suspected that she was almost, if not already finished her task and was on her way out of the village. The blonde paced the kitchen and glanced at the clock every couple of minutes. Naruto should have been home 45 minutes ago. His shift ended at midnight.

Sitting, he reasoned with himself. He simply could have been held up at work... Sighing loudly he forced himself to relax. Jiraiya was already on his way to pick the boy up. The little brat was going to get a good talking too about punctuation when he got home. The thought of that seemed almost normal and Minato managed to relax for a few minutes before he decided to, for the fourth time this evening, recheck and repack their bags to make sure he hadn't missed anything.

* * *

Only the most experienced of ninja would have been able to detect the hint of anger mixed with worry in his gait. He sure hoped the boy had a good excuse for picking tonight of all nights to come home late. Reaching the familiar stretch of road, he was surprised to see that the lights and gate to the ramen shop were down. The lights upstairs were on, so Jiraiya rang the buzzer.

"Hello?" The crackly voice that Jiraiya identified as Naruto's boss answered.

"It's Raido, where is Naoki?" The man didn't answer but pressed the button to open the door. Instantly all anger that Jiraiya possessed was flushed away and replaced with an intense blossom of worry. Jiraiya was met by the man at the top of the stairs with his hands on his hips.

"I was hoping you could tell me. He left for his delivery at about 11 and didn't come back. I just assumed that you grabbed him to take him home to see the baby. Now I'm worried though." Jiraiya grabbed his forehead and closed his eyes. The ramen chef continued carefully. "How is Kaori-san? Has she had the baby yet?" Jiraiya looked up at the chef with a sad look.

"We didn't come right away because we thought it would be better to let ourselves get organized before Naoki came home. I should have. Dammit!" He smacked the stairwell-wall with a dull _thump_. Jiraiya continued quickly, he needed to find Naruto and fast. "Kaori-chan... There was too much blood. She went into shock and died."

The chef paled and said in a quivering voice, "And the baby?" Jiraiya shook his head and the chef let out a breath. He pulled his order pad from his pocket and flipped through to near the end. Ripping the sheet out, he gave it to Jiraiya and said, "This was his last delivery. Please make sure to find him, he's my best employee..." Jiraiya glanced at the address and nodded.

When the toad sage arrived at the block his heart jumped up into his throat. There were shinobi everywhere. Not very many spectators due to the early hour, but enough that the shinobi were forming a perimeter around the address that Jiraiya had been given. He crunched the paper in his hand. He knew this address.

Limping up to the shinobi who looked like he was the leader, he was stopped by another just a few metres from him by another ninja.

"Can I help you sir?" This man looked to be a chuunin at the very least. Jiraiya looked at him with determination and disparity. He said, "What happened here?" The shinobi hesitated before saying, "Nothing that concerns a civilian."

Jiraiya looked at the shinobi and replied with a bit of an edge to his tone. "I would like to speak to your commander please." The shinobi was about to refuse when the commander called his name and told him to let Jiraiya come over. Jiraiya was extremely afraid. If Naruto had been caught by guards or another shinobi, the chances that he wouldn't be put to interrogation were very slim. Shinobi don't really believe in being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"Is there something I can help you with sir?" The shinobi said, rather respectfully considering Jiraiya was posing as a civilian. Jiraiya looked around nervously before speaking.

"Can I ask what happened?" The commander pursed his lips and crossed his arms. "Please," Jiraiya continued, "My son was supposed to have come near here a while ago and he hasn't come back yet. It's been a few hours and I'm really worried..." Jiraiya sounded almost pathetic, but every part of it was real. He didn't want to lose this kid on this mission. The commander's face fell a bit and his eyes softened.

"What does your son look like?" The commander said. Jiraiya knitted his eyebrows together. "He's about 14, blonde, blue eyes, about this tall," Jiraiya motioned with his hand before continuing, "and he's got three scars on either side of his cheeks."

The commander was frowning now. He motioned over one of the ninja that was coming through the gate and whispered something in his ear. The ninja quickly whispered something back and the commander shook his head.

Turning back to Jiraiya the commander said in a soft voice, "I don't want this getting out, but you'll find out tomorrow anyway. The owner of this building was assassinated a few hours ago." Jiraiya's eyes widened in feign surprise but very real fear. The commander continued in his soft voice, "The assassin, unfortunately attacked both of the guards, killing one of them, but the other survived miraculously, and the medics say that he may even survive the night. He claims that if it wasn't for a delivery boy who was startled by the sudden appearance of the assassin, they would have never heard a thing." Jiraiya realized he was holding his breath, and let it out slowly. They definitely didn't have him for interrogation by his tone. Maybe just the standard questioning that civilians had to go through.

"I don't really want to be the one telling you this, so I'm very, very sorry. You say your son was the delivery boy? He was killed in the struggle. The guard says that he got in the line of fire from the assassin and was killed instantly. The guard also said that the assassin took the body with him, probably to hide evidence of the boy ever being there. I'm really, really sorry. Please, go home and sleep, tomorrow you'll be visited by us again and they will be able to explain it better." The commander gave a short bow of his head and back away to continue his duties, leaving Jiraiya gaping.

Jiraiya managed to limp over to a wall before sliding down it and sitting down. He knew that Kushina was the assassin, and he knew that she took his body to hide village secrets, but these facts wouldn't bring him back.

How was he going to tell Minato?

* * *

End Chapter 11

A new chapter? In less than a month? PERPOSTEROUS. Anyway, it's a lot easier to write this arc now that I had figured it all out. I don't want to promise anything because I don't know how life will treat me, but you may be able to expect another chapter in the next few weeks. Maybe even next week. We'll see!


	12. People Lie and People Die

Chapter 12

* * *

There was the barest hint of smoke as Kushina shushin'ed back to the hidden area where all of her stuff was stashed. She gently placed the body she was carrying over her shoulder down onto his side. The silence that she had been forcing herself to make broke and she gave a torn scream.

Kneeling down beside the boy, she tore off the hood of her outfit and pulled at the long red strands as they fell down her back like a waterfall of blood. Kneeling down beside Naruto she placed her head near his chest and almost started crying in relief when she heard a heartbeat and felt a short wet-sounding breath against her cheek. Sitting back up she wiped a single tear off of her cheek and set her mouth in a look of grim determination.

_It was sudden, and he blamed himself. Naruto had just about reached the desk that Taika sat at when he felt the tiniest burst of familiar chakra. A small hand burst through Taika's chest in a mess of blood, smoke, and electricity. Taika's hands flung out and his mouth gaped. One of his hands smashed into the glass bowl of various office related items knocking it to the ground. _

_By now Naruto was imitating a gold fish, but before he could even react a blade sliced through Taika's neck like butter and the appendage was lifted back and subsequently almost dropped._

"_Naruto!" The words slipped from the figures lips so quietly, Naruto almost didn't hear it. Only the figures eyes were visible, and the intense violet of them gave her identity away, not that there was anyone else who knew his name in this village. Before he could respond, the door opened with a bang that made the blonde jump._

_The guards both stood at the door, their faces just as white as Naruto's. It was the second guard who acted first, pushing the first out of the way. The second guard somehow managed to get his spear hoisted up and into the doorway and fumbling he threw it as hard as he could at the figure holding his boss's head. The ramen boy had barely time to raise his hand and shout when a long spear made of bamboo and cold steel slammed hard into his chest. He almost didn't hear the guard who threw the spear say "Oh shit!"_

_The spear pushed him back into the desk before he bounced back and onto the floor. He could barely move, much less breathe. His entire chest was numb save for a small point of pain just below his shoulder blade. When he reached around to find out why, his fingers met steel and he pulled them back as if burned. Unable to make a hissing noise he slowly prodded back with his fingers and was able to make out a good 7 or 8 inches of steel poking out. Naruto let his hand drop and tried to groan, although all that came out was a gurgle and a dribble of what Naruto assumed was blood._

_He vaguely heard a sharp crackling noise in the din of the background, but his vision was hazy and the only thing he could see was the long stretch of bamboo pole that stretched out in front of him. He closed his eyes, intending on blinking the haziness out of them, but his lids felt as if they were made of lead and he found he couldn't open them again. He felt hands touch him gingerly but his consciousness slipped away before he could feel anything else._

_As soon as Kushina heard the horrible noise of steel breaking bone and ripping through flesh and organ she dropped the head and sprung into action. She heard the blonde fall and resisted the urge to shout a battle cry. Her hand lit up in a flash of lightning and she rendered the first guard who had rushed forward down from face to navel. He fell without a sound and with barely a drop of blood. The second guard yelled and tried to pick up his fallen comrade's spear, but Kushina was too fast and she slashed at him with the sword in her other hand, severing an arm and cutting into his torso. He too fell and she quickly decided that he would bleed out before anyone would find them and gathered Naruto as gently as possible before grabbing the head and shushin-ing out of there._

"Oh dammit why didn't I learn some fucking medic jutsu?" Kushina almost shouted as she examined the spear with a closer eye. It had only been a few minutes since he was hit, but she could hear his wet sounding breaths getting weaker. The spear had punctured his right lung near the bottom of his ribcage and had poked most of the tip through his back. She glanced around her and gritted her teeth. This place wasn't safe enough it was only out of the way, not hidden. She wouldn't be able to move him with the spear still in him, but she was sure the motion would finish the job that the spear was trying to do if she moved him.

However, Kushina wasn't in ANBU for nothing and thinking quickly she used a quick and rough looking chakra knife to slice through the bamboo a few inches from his chest. The spear would be a sort of plug, as he wasn't bleeding externally too much, and would at least ensure he had a better chance of surviving the next ten minutes. She quickly sealed the head away, slipped her pack on before gently picking the blonde up. He didn't even grunt and worry blossomed in her chest. She felt like crying again, she should have acted faster! This whole mission was one big 'lose the people you care about due to your carelessness' festival.

Kushina set off quietly and quickly. At least she wouldn't have to worry about Naruto making any unnecessary noises. Sneaking out of the village was going to be ten times more difficult with Naruto on her back but she'd do it. She had to.

* * *

Jiraiya ran over the details in his head a million times before he reached Beni's house. Something didn't sit well with him about the situation. He snapped out of his thoughts when he found himself standing at the door with his hand on the handle for who knows how long. When he finally opened the door a pacing Minato looked up and gave a small smile. When Minato noticed that Jiraiya was alone, the smile fell of his face.

"Where is Naruto?" He asked quietly, worry and fear filling his sky blue eyes. Jiraiya looked him right in the eyes, something he felt his student should get at least, and said, "He ended up delivering to the target and was caught in the crossfire. They told me he was dead but-" Jiraiya was cut off as Minato keeled over, making a dull _thud_ on the carpeted floor. Jiraiya couldn't help but roll his eyes. He had been about to finish with his suspicions, but he'd have to wait. The blonde had been taking his role in this act a little more seriously than any of the others and he was probably running on fumes.

Deciding that since they were going to be formally informed tomorrow, he packed their bags back up in Minato's room, and laid the blonde out on his bed. He however, could not even think about sleep, so he sat on the couch and pulled a bottle of sake out from the cupboard. He figured that Naruto had been injured enough to have been knocked out, but he had seen that kid take a stab wound and barely flinch! There was no way he was actually dead, not with Kushina around. Still, doubt lingered in his mind and even the soothing burning of the sake as it made its way down his throat didn't make it go away. He glanced at the clock and saw that it read 3:43 before putting his face in his hands and groaning.

* * *

The position of the moon told Kushina that it was shortly past midnight. It had taken her nearly an hour to get out of the village through the way that Beni had shown her earlier. That was 45 minutes longer than she had rehearsed, and she hoped that she wouldn't run into any patrols.

Thankfully lady luck hadn't given her a shitty roll of her dice as she had been doing all night, and after another hour of swift travelling Kushina and a still quiet Naruto made it to the rocky outcrop that led into a small underground room. It was there that she lit the multitude of candles set up and ever so gently put Naruto down. When she accidently knocked the steel part of the bamboo Naruto gave a small wet sounding grunt which startled her, but gave a small flutter of hope.

She quickly took his pulse and after determining that although it was weak, it was fairly stable and he wasn't likely to just up and die on her. This kid was tough. Fingering the exit wound she saw that it was smaller than the entrance wound and she bit her lip. She needed to get the pole out or Naruto was going to start drowning on his blood more so than he already was. If she pushed it through she'd be opening the exit wound wider, but if she pulled it back the way it came she'd probably end up slicing even more of his lung. Grabbing some clothing from her bag she bit her lip and pushed the pole out through the exit wound, grabbing the steel tip and smoothly pulling the whole thing out.

Naruto's eyes flung open and he screamed. Kushina almost faltered but the amount of blood that started to pour through both sides was something that needed her attention as she pressed clothing down on either side. She could feel that ribs on both the front and the back were broken where the spear had crushed through them and this was probably twice as agonizing. Naruto however finally stopped screaming when his short supply of breath ran out and he spit up blood instead. Kushina tried to make calming noises, but both of her hands were occupied. Slowly lifting one of her hands she was met with a gush of blood and quickly covered it back up again.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit..." She said quickly. She knew how to treat basic wounds, but this was ridiculous. She tried channelling pure chakra directly into his coils and his wounds in the hope that maybe his own slightly faster healing than normal would at least clot them shut.

Naruto gurgled and spit out another mouthful of blood. "Shhh..." Kushina said, figuring he was trying to talk to her. "It's ok, just be still, I'll get this fixed, I promise..." She choked on the last word and without her hands to free to wipe her eyes tears fell freely down her face. She channelled more chakra into the wounds, visualizing the skin knitting together, and was surprised to see that it looked like it may have actually sort of worked on the exit wound. A clot was forming and it was barely bleeding anymore. Determination surged in her and she channelled as much chakra as she dared directly into the coil around his lung. She didn't notice the single tiny little flare of red chakra creep through her seal and make its way down to her hands.

* * *

Naruto's eyes opened with a snap. He sat up quickly and felt his chest and back. There was nothing there! Had it been a dream? He looked around and saw that he was in a plain white cement room. He was sitting on the middle of the floor. Standing up he almost had a bout of vertigo when his head went much higher up than he expected. Looking down at himself he realized that he was wearing the clothes he had been wearing when little Hinata died and he lost control. Feeling his chest under his shirt he felt the swirl of the scar that Sasuke's chidori left and almost sighed.

"What the hell was all of that? A really long fucking dream?" He said out loud, almost jumping at the deepness of his voice. Looking at the door to the room, he tested it and was surprised to find it open. He had suspected he was in a cell or something. He did rip off the seal and unleash the Kyuubi on everyone after all.

Outside of the door was a hallway that was brightly lit, and like the room he was in, was immaculately white and made of what seemed to be cement. Naruto followed the hallway for what seemed like hours, encountering only a few locked doors along the way before he suddenly stepped out into a brightly lit room, even brighter than the hallway. Naruto lifted his arm up, only avoiding smacking himself in the face by reflex, to cover his eyes, but as soon as he saw what was in front of him his arm just dropped down.

It was similar to how he remembered his being, with the tall bars that were impossibly tall, save that due to the excellent lighting in this area he could see the ceiling. Behind these bars and behind a seal that looked incredibly different from the one he was used to seeing, lay a giant sleeping demon fox. Naruto almost smiled. He ran forward stopping at the large seal that was a combination of paper and rope that spanned over several of the large bars and shouted.

"Kyuubi! Kyuubi! Wake up I need to talk to you!" The giant fox opened a single eye that stood almost as tall as Naruto. The fox didn't say anything at first and Naruto feared that whoever tampered with his seal possibly cut off any way of communication with the demon.

"Can you hear me?" He asked, almost quietly, fearing the fox's reaction. He was almost blown over by the power of the fox's answer, however.

"**Yes.**" The answer was simple and yet Naruto heard was sounded to be fatigue in his massive voice. "Are you ok?" He asked as the fox lowered its lid halfway.

"**Yes.**" It snorted softly, still causing a wind that nearly blew the blonde off of his feet. Naruto was started to get concerned, usually the fox was chewing him out by now or something similar, but this conversation was feeling forced on the fox's end.

"Did I just wake up from a dream? Did I end up letting you out after all? Did someone seal you back in me? This seal doesn't look familiar..." Naruto said, rushing the questions out as fast as he could while still being understandable. The Kyuubi sighed and said, "**No. No. No.**"

Naruto frowned. "Am I... Are we dead then?" He asked; his emotions were a mix of fear, hesitation, happiness at seeing the fox, and confusion. "**No.**" Now Naruto was really confused.

"Where am I?" The fox moved its giant muzzle onto its paws, an action that took a worrying amount of effort for a being that was supposedly made of pure chakra. The fox leaked out a glob of red chakra. Naruto let it run into his chest without a fight and relished the warm feeling that he hadn't realized he had been missing.

He closed his eyes momentarily, and when he opened them, he saw a tall wave of the red chakra coming at him. The chakra engulfed him and he suddenly found it hard to breath. His chest was a mass of pain and when he pulled his hands away they were covered in blood.

"**Kushina.**" That single word blew through the chakra and made Naruto gape before coughing up blood. His vision started to fade and saw a look that almost reminded him of sympathy pass over the fox's face. He heard one last word before blackness claimed him. "**Survive.**"

* * *

Jiraiya was disappointed in the lack of faith that Minato held in his brother. He had only known the kid for two months and he was already sure that the kid was a survivor. They had been visited at about noon about the incident, and the sage looked very much the part of a father that had stayed up all night nursing a bottle of sake despairing about his son, daughter-in-law, and grandchild all tragically taken from him in a single night.

The man at the door had been very kind and he put up with Minato's game of five thousand questions until they had wrung all the answers possible. He had told Jiraiya that 'Kaori' and her baby were already being cremated as requested, as Beni had been so kind to see to that for him, and that they would both, along with 'Naoki' get a memorial stone in the civilian cemetery. Naoki was being awarded a bravery award and a commemoration on his stone about how he lost his life in the line of duty, despite not being a ninja. Jiraiya would have felt touched if he hadn't had the firm belief that Naruto was still hanging on somewhere.

"When can we leave?" Jiraiya asked with a hoarse voice. The man looked up at him and said, politely, "Pardon?" Jiraiya pursed his lips. "I'm sure you can see why this place, a place we had sought refuge from fighting and war and that has taken three of my precious family members away from me, is not a place that I wish to remain. I'm still a newcomer so I'm sure emigrating won't be very hard. What do I have to sign?" The man looked at Jiraiya with pity written all over his face. Minato's face was buried in his hands.

"I... I understand. Assuming you wish to be present for the placement of your children's stones, which will take place tomorrow morning at about 9 am. That gives you all day today to fill in the forms at the immigrations office. You are still a new citizen so it will be a lot quicker to emigrate as you are less of a security risk. I'd say it would take a day or two maximum. Maybe less if you explain why. You will have to bring your son as well." He motioned Minato who was still sitting with his face in his hands. He held out a yellow envelope that was thick with papers. "You'll have to sign these before tomorrow morning. If you intend on going to the immigrations office you can hand them in there, or to the address on the envelope." The man tipped his stood up and tipped his hat. "Again, I am truly sorry for the misfortune that has come upon your family." He closed the door and left.

Minato sat back and wiped his puffy red eyes. Jiraiya looked at him and said, "You know when I tell Naruto that you cried over him he's never going to let you live it down." Minato glared at him with angry blue eyes. "I really want to believe like you do sensei. I really do. But he got caught in a fight with an assassin and two well trained guards. The man even said that the surviving guard claimed that Kushina stabbed him with her sword."

"You don't believe that, do you?" Jiraiya said. He was starting to get a tad angry with the boy. Minato shook his head. "No, it was more likely that the guard is lying to cover up something he did himself. Why would he lie unless he actually killed him? Oh god sensei... He's my brother and I've only had him for two years." Jiraiya shook his head. There was no talking sense into the blonde. They would meet Kushina at the rendezvous point tomorrow and Minato would see! Naruto would probably just have bump on his head where he tripped or something. Jiraiya nodded, trying to convince himself more than anything.

* * *

End Chapter 12

:O After re-reading this I realize that there were a lot of swear words!


	13. A Story of Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Chapter 13

* * *

A large glob of red chakra leaked out of her hands suddenly and Kushina started. She pulled her hand away before it reached Naruto only to quickly replace it after his wound started to gush again. Another, larger glob came and Kushina let it run into the boy this time. She wasn't even close to be fatigued enough to use the chakra instead of her own, so she quickly figured that Kyuubi was doing this. Odd behaviour but if it wanted to help than she wasn't going to complain.

Oddly enough, Naruto didn't look like he was in pain. The last person whom she had used her red chakra on was left with chakra burns on both his skin and his coils. The blonde's coils seemed to be accepting the chakra a hell of a lot more easily than she could have even dreamed. Sniffing, she blinked the remainder of her tears away and focused on keeping the red chakra limited to the area of the wound, lest he start reacting to it as well.

Ten long minutes passed in which Naruto didn't make a sound. Kushina had to stop administering Kyuubi's chakra once to perform CPR on him as he suddenly stopped breathing. Unfortunately this opened both of his wounds again and she had to double the work to get to them to close. Kyuubi's chakra cut off as suddenly as it started and Kushina felt extremely drained. It required tons more energy to control and focus the raging red energy than her normal chakra did. When she pulled her hands away from the wounds, she saw that the exit wound was scabbed over pretty thickly, and the front was nearing that point. She wished that she could use that diagnostic jutsu that Jiraiya knew to see the state of Naruto's lung, but she'd have to wait until they arrived here.

Lifting her hands away from the blonde he didn't move or immediately die, so she quickly turned around and pulled the roll of gauze out from her pack. She didn't think she had nearly enough, but with the sacrifice of another shirt torn in two, she thought she'd be able to manage.

Naruto gurgled and coughed, scaring Kushina soundly. His eyes fluttered open and he tried to sit up. Kushina almost pushed him back down, but decided that if he was sitting up, it'd be easier to dress the wound. She helped him prop up against the rock wall, careful to position him a bit diagonal from it so his back wound didn't touch the surface.

"Ouch." Was all that he managed to get out. Kushina gave a little laugh that threatened to turn into tears of relief, but she stopped herself. She didn't know why she was getting so weepy over this boy; they had only met a month ago. She finished wrapping his torso up, and even checked the stab wound he had taken when they first met, but was mildly surprised to see that it was just a pink scar. Kyuubi must have healed that as well. She was sure that it would have still been a giant painful scab.

Naruto fell in and out of consciousness as Kushina wrapped him up. He couldn't think about anything other than the feeling of Kushina's gentle fingers occasionally brushing his skin and how much it hurt. He couldn't help but wonder if he would actually survive this, the last time he was injured this bad Kyuubi healed it entirely save for a scar in less than a minute.

When he opened his eyes again, Kushina was trying to eat a mouthful of ration bar with a look of distaste on her face. His tongue and throat felt like they were covered in sand, and the area around his wounds, in addition to hurting felt like someone had rubbed sandpaper all over them.

"W-water." He managed to get out, spitting up a small glob of blood. Kushina seemed a bit startled but quickly handed him her canteen. The water was warm and tasted like the plastic it was held in, but to Naruto it tasted like fresh and cold glacier water and he immediately felt a little better.

Kushina helped hold the canteen as Naruto took a few mouthfuls of water. The fact that he was conscious and asking for water was an immense relief and a great indication for survival, but despite whatever Kyuubi helped with, it had only been four hours and they still had the entire night ahead of them. Kushina watched Naruto drift off again and settled herself in for a long night of no sleep.

* * *

The red-headed ANBU blinked and immediately cursed. She could see the first beginnings of light touch the short entrance way to the room she was in, and a few of her candles had burned to the ground. She must have only sleep for an hour or two, but it was still too much. Checking Naruto she was relieved to find he was still alive. He had stopped breathing twice in the night, only starting again when Kushina forced him too. She laid a hand on his head and hissed. His forehead was hot and sweaty with a fever and his face looked strangely pale.

Carefully peeling the piece of shirt that covered the wound on his chest she swore loudly this time. Red angry looking streaks were starting to form around the wound. After checking the back she saw that they were starting to form there as well. Naruto did no more than grunt when she touched them and Kushina fretted. This was very much beyond her knowledge. Sighing in resignation, she resolved her composure and did something she hadn't done in years. Closing her eyes she delved into her mind and took off running down the brightly lit white halls of her mindscape.

* * *

Jiraiya used every inch of charm he owned and pity he received at the immigrations office. Minato looking like the walking dead certainly helped his cause. He managed to get a young lady as his desk worker and she didn't even stand a chance. After signing all of the documents and handing in the ones from the yellow envelope, the lady said that she would personally rush these through and he would be free pretty much first thing in the morning, he just needed to stop by here after the placement of the stones and get his pass to leave the village.

Minato would have been impressed if he cared enough to feel anything other than worry. If Jiraiya was right and Naruto was still alive, he swore to whatever gods were listening that he would never let the kid out of his sight again. Ever. If Naruto was conscious, he would have sneezed. Instead he coughed up a clot from his lung.

Jiraiya turned to Minato and said, in an attempt to get his mind off of the younger blonde, "What medical supplies did Kushina have, and what do we have?" Jiraiya knew that his student had obsessively organized and packed for the trip back. Minato looked up at his teacher and the briefly up at the sky. "Kushina has a roll of gauze and a tube of aloe paste. We have 4 rolls between us of gauze, a small bag of blood and soldier pills, and a bottle of aspirin." Minato scrunched his nose up before continuing, "Why didn't we give Kushina more supplies than bandages? What were we thinking?" Jiraiya looked away.

"We both agreed that there was more danger for us if something went wrong." Minato almost gaped when Jiraiya finished but something in his voice suggested that he needed to drop the topic. Not that he was in any mood to listen to his inner voice. "What on earth made you two agree to that?" He said, hands on hips. Jiraiya turned to him and gave him a stern look. "Drop it." Jiraiya said. His voice was completely serious business. Minato pursed his lips but let his hands drop to his sides.

When they made their way back to Beni's house it was past 6 pm. Neither of the pair from Konoha felt hungry, but when they smelled what it was that Beni was cooking, their stomachs gave loud growls. After Jiraiya and Beni both forced Minato to eat, the blonde excused himself to his bedroom. He was intending on sleeping as soon as possible to make time pass quicker. Tomorrow by mid day he would be reunited with Kushina and his brother, alive or dead. His last few thoughts as exhaustion took its dark hold on him was how the bed felt empty without the warm body of a woman with red hair in it. He sighed and gave in to sleep.

Jiraiya ran his hand through his hair as he watched Minato saunter off. The yellow dye was starting to wash out, making him look older with more and more streaks of white showing. Beni slipped her hands down around the front his chest and rested her chin on his shoulder. For a long moment she just embraced him and didn't say anything. Jiraiya was extremely grateful for everything she had done for him.

"Are you sure you don't want to come back to Konoha with me?" The sage said, causing Beni to smile sweetly. She shook her head and kissed his cheek gently. "My place is here, we both know this. Besides, what about all of your other lovers? Surely they would be jealous?" Jiraiya snorted but looked away. He stood up and put his and Minato's bowl in the sink of the kitchen.

"I think the boy has the right idea. I'm exhausted. Care to join me for my last night in Iwagakure?" Beni's laugh tinkled out of her mouth like little bells as she took Jiraiya's outstretched hand.

* * *

When Kushina arrived in the large white room that held her prisoner, she was greeted with a snort.

"Kyuubi!" She shouted. Kyuubi's eye snapped open and Kushina wasn't sure, but she thought that it may have rolled towards the ceiling.

"**What it is child? I am trying to sleep here.**" Its voice boomed around the room, but Kushina paid it no mind. She was used to it. "I need your help!" She yelled and the great Kyuubi no Youko reared its head back and laughed.

"**About what?**" Kushina frowned and put her hands on her hips. She was entering stubborn red-head mode. "You know about what. You sent me some chakra to stop Naruto's bleeding, his wounds are infected and he's almost died twice already. Can you help? At all? Even to just tell me what to do; I don't want to lose this boy!" Kyuubi sighed at the sight of Kushina's tears. No one would ever know it if Kyuubi could help it, but women's tears were a small weakness.

Kyuubi shifted his head back down. It took a lot less effort to speak and be heard by Kushina than it did to Naruto earlier. It wasn't sure why, but it probably had to do with the way it had been sealed into Kushina, versus how it had been sealed into Naruto. Sighing again Kyuubi said in its great booming voice, "**I may have closed his outer wounds enough that he wouldn't die from blood loss, but I could do nothing for his lung. He is not you, I cannot heal him. My chakra is poison to him. You say he has an infection? Clean his wounds and I will reseal them if you wish. It will be bloody and painful for him. Try to keep him cool. If you have anything to keep the wound sanitized it will help prevent further infection, but he needs real help.**" Kushina felt downtrodden. She clenched her fist and nodded. "Ok, I can try that at least. Take me back please." The red-head blinked and she was back sitting in front of the blonde. Every few seconds the boy would shiver and Kushina felt lost all over again.

"Oh Naruto-kun, please, you can hold on for a day or two more. Sensei will know what to do!" She said, almost pleading to the blonde's deaf ears. Peeling back the blood soaked shirt that was pressed against his chest, she pulled the bandage away and pushed it down so she could see the whole area. Red streaks made their way down almost to his navel, and up to his clavicle. Fetching her sharpest and sleekest kunai, she heated it up a bit with a fire jutsu and waited until it was cool enough to touch. Absentmindedly she thanked herself for not feeling faint around blood.

As soon as the knife touched his skin Naruto seemed to be in distress. He wasn't conscious enough to be screaming, but he certainly seemed to be trying. Kushina had to hold in tears as she continued to cut the scab off and wash the exposed puss off with water from the canteen. She found her aloe paste at the bottom of her bag and slathered that around the wound before Kyuubi started giving her chakra to close it up. Wiping her forehead she grit her teeth and started on the other side.

When everything was said and done, Kushina wrapped him back up with a third shirt sacrificed for the greater good and lay him down on his side. She checked to make sure he was breathing as well as he could before making the short trip to the top of the tunnel. As soon as the cooler air hit her face she bent over and retched. Wiping her mouth she continued out to check that the alerting wards she had placed the previous night during a calmer period were still intact before using a jutsu to pull cold water out of the air and plants and filled her canteen. Taking another deep breath of fresh air she made her way back into the cave and tried to follow Kyuubi's advice and keep Naruto cool with a ripped up pair of pants this time soaked in water. It was barely evening, and Kushina was starting to have doubts about her own abilities to keep the boy alive. Not that'd she give up of course; it just didn't help with the amount of tears she had been shedding.

* * *

The procession for 'Naoki', 'Kaori', and the child that Jiraiya had named 'Kosuke' for the purposes of a head stone was small and quiet. Only Minato, who was an absolute mess, Jiraiya, Beni, Naruto's boss from the ramen stand, and the midwife that "helped" deliver the baby were in attendance. The funeral attendant said some words before placing 'Kaori' and 'Kosuke's' stones, and in addition to words for 'Naoki', he placed medal attached to a brightly coloured circle of ribbon around the stone so it circled the base.

When it was finished, Jiraiya got a few pats from the Ramen chef and a hug from the midwife before they both departed. Minato's eyes looked hollow. He was still in the mindset that Naruto was dead and this might as well be the first of two processions he'd have to go to. Minato led the way back to Beni's house to pick up their stuff so that they could go. Jiraiya could see that although he looked downtrodden and depressed, the blonde wanted to get there as fast as possible. He hated himself for not giving Kushina one of the seals for the technique he'd been working on. He'd used hiraishin successfully when he rescued her before, but he had never tried going farther than a kilometre. He didn't want to risk not having enough chakra and leaving an arm behind or something.

Sighing irritably as he had to walk at a normal pace as they got their things, stopped by the immigrations office where the young lady from the previous day had lived up to her promise and had passes ready for them. Jiraiya stopped to talk to the guards on the way out, as one of them was the same guard from when they first came, and after bidding adieu, they had to walk painfully slow until they were out of range of chakra sensing. It was then that they suddenly jumped, landing on the tree tops and using as much chakra as they could without ripping their leg muscles to shreds headed for the rendezvous point.

* * *

Kushina paused in her action of wiping more sweat off Naruto's forehead. He still had a fever but it wasn't as bad as yesterday. Cleaning out the wounds seemed to have helped a little. She only had to resuscitate him once during the night. Looking at the ceiling a small tag of paper was glowing blue and she dropped the wet piece of pant back onto Naruto's forehead and was up and out of the cave in a flash.

As soon as she saw Minato's blonde mop of hair she started openly weeping. Jiraiya rushed past her into the cave and Minato stopped in front of her. She was covered in blood and Minato tried to ignore it as he enveloped her in a hug. He figured Jiraiya'd be able to help Naruto better than he could if he was alive, and would be able to soften it for him if he was dead. Kushina kept crying into his chest and he feared the worst. He didn't know that her tears were tears of relief and if he had bothered to look at her face he'd see that she was smiling.

"Minato!" Jiraiya called from the cave and Minato let Kushina go gently. He scrambled down the short walkway to the small room and was taken aback by the smell of death and sickness. However it was all forgotten when he saw his little brother looking like he was in a great amount of pain, but very much alive. Kneeling down beside him, he didn't know what to do, so he just took the rag shakily out of Jiraiya's hand and started dampening his forehead. Jiraiya had already started digging the blood and soldier pills out of his bag. Popping one of each in Naruto's mouth and massaging his throat so he'd swallow them, he sat back and said, "That should do for now. We need to move him out into the open. I'm going to summon a toad." Minato nodded and gingerly picked up Naruto, who groaned whenever jostled. Bringing him out into the open where Kushina was hurriedly wiping her tears he turned to Jiraiya who bit his thumb.

"Summoning Jutsu!" He called, slamming his hand down on the ground. A toad the size of a small dog appeared and gave the party a dubious look before facing Jiraiya.

"Gamakoto I need you to take Naruto to the hospital in Konoha. He needs immediate medical care. You'll be taking Kushina as well." Minato started to protest but stopped when the toad nodded and lashed his tongue out, gently prying the younger blonde from his brother's arms. Kushina quickly turned to him and said, "I'll take care of him, I promise! I'll even-" she was cut off as a tongue wrapped around her waist and she was promptly swallowed whole. The toad licked his lips and nodded before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Minato was just about ready to blow his lid and have the hissy fit of the century when Jiraiya cut him off and said, "Don't be stupid. Kushina is supposed to dead. We still need to be seen leaving the border of Tsuchi Kuni. We'll be back in a week and Naruto will probably be up and running by then." Minato's face reddened with a mixture of anger and embarrassment but he knew his teacher was right. He was immensely relieved that his brother was alive, and he focused himself on getting home as fast as possibly to support his brother's recovery.

* * *

A hawk landed on the windowsill of a sparsely decorated room. It nattered back and forth until a hand reached out to give it a piece of meat. The hawk took it happily and didn't even ruffle a feather as the same hand untied the scroll around its leg. The hawk was soon forgotten as the owner of the hand saw that the letter looked like a large block of unusual looking symbols. To anyone else the symbols would have been nonsense, but to the figure they were a code that symbolized something he had been hoping to hear about. It took a few minutes to decipher it in his head, but when he did he grinned widely. He moved the letter to the candle that constantly burned on his desk and let the paper catch on fire. He watched as it was reduced to ash and sat down, composing his own letter using identical symbols. Everything was going as planned.

* * *

End Chapter 13

And the Iwa arc is pretty much finished! I dont want to get your hopes up for updates like this all the time. i had re written this arc over and over so it was pretty much finished when I started it and all I had to do was find time to write it out. I dont have the next arc done in such detail so dont expect another chapter as soon as these have been. Sorry, but thanks for all the support i've been getting! it's really nice!


	14. Everything is Exhausting

Chapter 14

* * *

Gamakoto didn't know exactly where the hospital was as he was mainly summoned to appear in the Hokage's office, so that's where he showed up. Sarutobi had just finished lighting a newly packed pipe and was about to start on his afternoon round of never ending paperwork when the toad popped into existence in his usual spot on the corner of Sarutobi's desk.

"Oh, what a pleasant surprise. A message from Jiraiya?" He said, but the toad shook his head and said in an urgent tone, "Emergency, need medical attention." Before Sarutobi had a chance to say anything Gamakoto turned his body and regurgitated a now slimy and blood covered Kushina holding onto an equally slimy and blood covered Naruto. Sarutobi stood up and four of his personal ANBU appeared in his office seemingly out of thin air. One with a rabbit mask held out her hand and it lit up in a green chakra fuelled fire. She held it to Kushina's head before shaking her head and moved it to Naruto's. She barely held in a gasp.

"Hokage-sama he's going to die if he doesn't get immediate help. I can do what I can until we get to the hospital to keep him alive." Sarutobi nodded and two of the other ANBU carefully hoisted the boy off the ground while the rabbit masked ANBU kept her hands on Naruto's chest. If one could see her face, a look on intense concentration would have been found. The three ANBU disappeared with the blonde and Kushina made to follow before Sarutobi put his hand on her shoulder. Sarutobi nodded at the fourth ANBU and he disappeared back to where ever his surveillance point was.

"Hokage-sama, please! I promised to make sure he survived!" Kushina said frantically. Her eyes were tearing up but Sarutobi was made of sterner stuff than that. He pushed her down to his guest chair and circled around to his own chair. Sitting down he pulled out his pipe and put it in his mouth. The ember had gone out but he didn't light it again, it was more of a habit to have it in his mouth at this point.

"I haven't seen you in three years and this is how you greet me?" Sarutobi finally said. Kushina just stared. She couldn't tell if he was being serious or not, but when he finally gave a chuckle (presumably at the look on her face) she frowned. "Jiji-sama this is no joke. That kid... It's my fault he's like that and..." She choked a little on her words before continuing, "I need to go be with him... Please!" Sarutobi shook his head. "He is probably already at the hospital and by the amount of blood on you and what I saw of him, he's going to go straight into surgery. Unless you are a surgeon I doubt you could do anything but get in the way." Kushina put her face in her hands and started sobbing. Sarutobi didn't stop her; she needed to get it all out now rather than bottling it up. When she finished Sarutobi spoke in a low kind tone. "Kushina, go home take a shower and get some clean clothes on. Eat a meal and have a cup of tea or something. Maybe take a short nap if you can. When you are done that Naruto will probably be able to take visitors, or at least very close to it. And then we can have a chat." Kushina looked very much like she wanted to protest, but in the end she just nodded. She stood up and gave a short bow before turning to leave. The last ANBU appeared and draped a plain cloak around her shoulders before disappearing again without a word. Kushina couldn't even manage a thanks, so she just gripped the cloak and hoped it covered most of the blood on her.

* * *

Kushina's route home took her past the hospital. She paused out front of the doors and stared up at it. The impulse to go in was great, but Sarutobi's orders rang louder in her head. With difficulty she peeled her eyes off the big sign and took a few steps down the street before a shout caught her attention.

"Kushina? Is that you?" Kushina spun her head towards the entrance of the hospital and saw a dark haired woman accompanied by a shorter boy who shared similar features. "Mikoto?" She asked, almost uncertain of her identity. The woman's features lit up and she rushed over to envelop her friend in a hug.

"Ah-h... I would probably wait until I take a shower before hugging me. I just got off a mission." Kushina let her eyes roam downwards and she said, "You're pregnant!" Mikoto smiled brightly and said, "I'm married too! I'm not the same 16-year-old you last saw! What about you? Was your mission a success?" Kushina turned away and Mikoto frowned. "I'd like to take a shower first. Why don't you and... Obito was it? My how big you are! Why don't you two come over and we can have lunch or something. Then we can chit chat and catch up." Mikoto smiled and they made their way back to Kushina's small apartment.

* * *

Ringing the last of the water out of her thigh length hair, she expertly twisted it up in a large towel and slipped a clean standard black uniform on. She stepped out of the bathroom into her living room area and was greeted with the scent of Mikoto's homemade ramen. Obito was fidgeting with the remote control to her TV and paid her no mind, but Mikoto smiled brightly when she saw Kushina's look of longing.

Sitting down her stomach gave a rumble and reminded her that she hadn't eaten since she was in Iwa. Thinking of Iwa made her think of the blonde boy fighting for his life in the hospital and her stomach twisted harshly, making her glad she hadn't eaten yet. Mikoto turned to serve the red-head a bowl just in time to see her wiping tears from her eyes.

"What's wrong? Is it something you can discuss?" Mikoto asked, quite aware of the secrecy that entailed being a ninja. Kushina stopped wiping her eyes and said, "I don't know if I can or not. I suppose I can tell you some things..." Mikoto poured Obito (who had shown up at the sight of ramen) and herself a bowl and sat down tenderly, holding her belly.

"Why is the runt with you anyway?" Kushina asked, ignoring the nine-year-old's tongue as he stuck it out at her. Mikoto gave a little laugh before smacking him upside the head. Obito scoffed and Mikoto said, "He's my valiant escort. I have to see so many doctors, I'm due in little over a month." "Who did you end up marrying? Please don't tell me it was that stick in the mud Fugaku..." Kushina nearly cried out loud when Mikoto smiled wider.

"Oh get over it. He's much nicer now. Besides, Yutan-kun... He didn't come back from his mission. Just shortly after you left actually. His teammates say he died protecting his clients after putting up a huge fight." Mikoto's face looked sullen, but Kushina could see that the years had taken the edge off of her grief. "What about you though? Anything exciting happen in the last three years? I heard you were doing rebuilding work as a fancy diplomat for Konoha. Did you manage to find anyone from your family left?" Kushina shrugged. Her mission hadn't gone all too well, and her supposed return had cost her three teammates and possibly a fourth and fifth that she would have to check in with later.

She spooned some ramen into her mouth and nearly dropped it in sheer delight. Mikoto had made salt ramen, Kushina's favourite. Slurping down a long noodle she said, "I only got one family to move to Konoha, and they weren't related to me. One of my cousins took her husband and their baby out west somewhere. I think the rest of the Uzumaki Clan perished in the disaster or has disappeared and is trying to start anew. Not that I blame them. I ran into some trouble on the way back here actually. I lost... Three of my teammates... and... I need to go to the hospital." She stood up but Mikoto grabbed her arm and pulled her back down. "Finish eating first. Whomever you need to see can wait ten more minutes. Tell me their names; do I know any of them?"

Kushina shovelled another spoonful down her throats and said, a bit somberly, "The three from the first mission were Uzu survivors so you wouldn't have known them, but the one whose blood I was covered in was Minato's little brother. You must have met him right? The one with the weird scars on his face. His name was Naruto. He got hurt pretty bad and... I don't know... I hope he makes it through the night. Minato would never forgive me." Mikoto opened her mouth to say that she had indeed heard of Minato's brother but Obito stood up and slammed his palms on the table.

"Naruto-nisan is hurt! I need to tell Himawari-sensei!" He turned and before Mikoto could stop him he was out the door. Kushina said, "I didn't know that Obito knew him..." "Neither did I, but Himawari is a name I do know. She's a Hyuuga branch member that Obito's been hanging out with lately. Can you stop him please? He's only nine. I'll stay here in case he comes back. I'm in no condition to be running around." Kushina nodded and was out the door in a flash.

Obito almost made it to the Hyuuga compound, despite only having a few second head start. Brats were getting faster and faster every year. Grabbing the boy by the collar of his shirt he grunted and turned. "Please ne-san! Naruto-nisan is like Himawari-sensei's best friend! They both teach me and play ninja with me!" Kushina wrinkled her nose. "How do you even play ninja?" She said, but Obito just whined. She let go of his shirt and sighed.

"Fine but we knock like civilized people. You are an Uchiha after all and I'm sure your father would lay it into me if I let his only child behave like a wild animal in front of, god forbid, a Hyuuga." Obito nodded and although he ran to the large gates, he was very polite in asking for Himawari's presence. The girl, a pretty little thing with choppy indigo hair, showed up after a few minutes and stepped out, closing the large gates. Bending down after giving Kushina a nod, she spoke.

"Obito-kun, you know that it's rude to interrupt a meal, especially in this clan." Obito blushed and looked ashamed, but he switched back to determination and said, "Sensei, Naruto-nisan just got back! Kushina-neechan says he was hurt really badly and might die! We need to go see him!" Himawari's face paled of what little colour it had and she looked up to Kushina for confirmation. Kushina's face must have been the same colour because she straightened suddenly. "Well, what are we waiting for? Naruto-kun needs our support."

"What!" Shouted a certain nine-year-old Uchiha. "I said what I said, Uchiha-san. Namikaze-san is still in surgery and when he gets out he will still be in intensive care and only his guardian is allowed to visit until he is taken out of the ICU. It says here that until his brother signs some papers, Uzumaki-san here is his guardian." Obito huffed as the lady behind the desk put on a kind face.

"I understand that it is hard, but this is standard procedure." She said to the boy who just turned away and earned a reproachful look from Himawari. "Do you know about how long it will be until he is out of surgery?" The receptionist shrugged but said, "I can make a call for you but it usually takes about half an hour to get a proper estimate." Kushina waved her hand. "That's fine. I'll wait over here." The red-head moved to the sparsely filled lobby and sat down. Her face was one of someone with steel composure, despite the typhoon of emotions threatening to spill over.

Glancing at Himawari who look slightly ill and Obito who looked more than slightly angry, Kushina pursed her lips. "Himawari-san was it?" Himawari raised her head and made contact with Kushina's violet eyes. "Could you do me a favour and bring Obito to my apartment? He left his aunt who is in no condition to be by herself there after running away like an immature brat." Himawari gasped and Obito protested that he wasn't a brat. Kushina merely clicked her tongue. She proceeded to give Himawari her address and watched the two leave. She could already tell that Obito was in for a tongue lashing when he was out of hearing range. A small smile made its way to her face; she wasn't even surprised that Naruto managed to befriend the nicest Hyuuga and the silliest Uchiha she had ever met.

The half hour went by faster than she had thought it would and a man approached her wearing a lab coat with a clipboard in his hands. "Uzumaki-san?" He asked, taking a seat beside her when she nodded in confirmation. Positioning the clipboard on his lap he gave a small sigh.

"Namikaze-san was heavily injured, and the delay in proper medical attention certainly does not improve his chances of surviving, but I can tell you now that he is still holding on decently strong. I'm not supposed to tell you anything about the surgery yet other than whatever was applied to his chakra system around the wounds may have damaged him enough that it will prolong his recovery," Kushina lowered her head in shame, but the doctor continued, "it may have prolonged his recovery, but it has almost ensured that he will have a recovery." Kushina glanced up and nearly burst into tears again. "W-when will he be out of surgery?" The doctor looked at his clipboard and said, "They aren't completely sure as there is so much to repair, but the lead surgeon believes that it will still be more than 12 hours. Maybe as few as 10 so long as there are no more complications." Kushina withered.

"If you give me a way of contacting you when he is out, we can inform you right away if you wish to leave, or we can set up a cot in the room that should be booked for him now, and maybe you can get some rest." The doctor was looking at the large bags that had formed under her eyes and the haggard look of exhaustion she harboured. She gave a short nod and said, "I'd appreciate the cot, actually. What room number?" The doctor gave her a short smile and read off the room that the Hokage himself had secured for the blonde boy. Kushina thanked him and made her way to the room, opening the door just as a nurse was setting up the cot. The nurse even left her with a blanket and a pillow and Kushina didn't realize how exhausted she was until she laid down. The adrenaline she had been running on completely left her and she drifted off into a healing sleep before her head even hit the pillow.

* * *

A hand gently shook Kushina awake, and the red-head rubbed her eyes to clear the blurriness from them. A young medic nin was smiling at her and said, "Uzumaki-san, you must get up. Namikaze-san is out of surgery and will be here in a few minutes." Kushina immediately shot out of the cot, letting the blanket tumble back onto the bed in a mess. "How long has it been?" She asked. The medic looked at her clipboard. "Namikaze-san has been in surgery for almost 17 hours." Kushina looked worried. "17? I was told it was only supposed to be 12 or 10?" "There were some complications that will be explained after the patient is settled in. There is a washroom behind you if you feel like cleaning up a bit. Other than that he should be here in about 10 minutes." The medic bowed and left the room.

Kushina made her way to the washroom and saw that her hair was a giant mess. She had no comb so she made use of her fingers to comb it out the best she could before braiding it loosely and securing it with an elastic band she had found in her pocket. Looking in the mirror she was surprised at how well rested she looked. She certainly felt like she could sleep for another week. The bag under her eyes hadn't completely disappeared, but she merely looked tired now, as compared to near death like before. Stepping out of the washroom she closed the door behind her at the exact same time as the door to the room opened, admitting a nurse guiding a hospital bed into the room. Kushina's chest swelled when she saw the blonde, but he was hooked up to so many machines it paralyzed her with fear.

Not able to take her eyes of Naruto, she only came to when a woman who looked fairly ragged and tired, dressed in the standard medic nin uniform shook her arm. "Uzumaki-san?" She said, and Kushina turned her head.

"Ah, sorry...It's just I didn't..." The medic nodded in understanding. "I am glad to tell you that Naruto-san will survive. The extent of his injuries was astounding, and the fact that he lived for as long as he did is a testament to his will, but his recovery will be long and hard. I was told you are the temporary guardian appointed by Hokage-sama?" Kushina nodded. "Uh yes, I am close friends with his older brother and we were all on a mission when he was injured. I was sent back with him before the other members could come." The medic nodded and said, "I need to go over his injuries, how we healed them, and the complications that arose. Would you like to go to the cafeteria so we can get some food and tea perhaps? It's quite a large list." Kushina felt her face pale, but nodded. The medic led her down to the modest cafeteria and Kushina found herself to be quite famished. She purchased a sandwich and sat down as the medic sipped her tea.

Glancing down at the clipboard, the black haired medic took a breath and said, "I am aware of the shinobi secrecy act, so I will not be asking anything that could compromise it. I am assuming by the shards and splinters left that the patient was impaled by a stick, possibly a bamboo tree?" Kushina shrugged.

"It was a bamboo spear. It pierced him through all the way and to remove it I sliced the end off and pulled it the rest of the way through." The medic nodded and wrote a note on the paper. "One of the complications arose with a foreign chakra that was lingering in his system. It prevented some of the precision techniques' effectiveness." Kushina lowered her head.

"I didn't know what to do, he was bleeding so badly so I channeled chakra into his wounds and tried to visualize it healing, you know like real medic-chakra. My chakra however is poisonous to others. Naruto didn't seem as affected by it as others were though." Kushina trailed off looking uncertain. The medic tented her fingers under her chin and let out a small breath.

"I want to thank you for your quick thinking on Namikaze-san's behalf. He would have just bled out and died if you had not been able to force the clotting of the entrance and exit wounds. The chakra didn't touch the mess that used to be his lung, and it made our jobs easier. Unfortunately, it really ate away at his chakra circulatory system around the lung and in the rib cage. Those cannot start to heal properly until the foreign chakra has dissipated. That will make his healing longer in the long run." Kushina rubbed her arm and finished her sandwich. She was starting to feel the burning behind her eyes again.

The medic sensed that she was close to tears so she continued on with the list to give Kushina time to get herself under control. True to her word, however, the list was very extensive and by the time the medic finished Kushina was starting to nod off again. The large clock behind the food counter read 6:30 in the morning. Kushina signed several documents before finally being allowed to go to back to Naruto's room. By now he had been tucked in properly with the machines keeping him alive all beeping and humming quietly. They had washed all the blood off of him, but from the neck down he looked like a mummy.

She reached out and brushed blonde strands from forehead noting that he didn't have a fever anymore, and tried to ignore the tiny flecks of blood that the medic had warned her would gather at the corner of his mouth until his lung was fully clotted. Tucking the corners of his already tucked in blanket, she smoothed them down before deciding that she couldn't do anything more. The medic told her that he was going to be kept in an induced coma to prevent him from coughing and dislodging any healing for the next week or two, so she shouldn't feel anxiety about him not waking up. It didn't help much though, as she slowly let her eyes fall shut in the mildly uncomfortable cot, she shivered and wished that Minato was there to keep her warm.

* * *

End Chapter 14

Words words words! Everything exciting happens next chapter, I promise!


	15. Resting and Recovering

Chapter 15

* * *

Minato practically kicked the Hokage's door down. He was tired, frustrated, and worried. Jiraiya followed behind him nonchalantly, looking a hell of a lot better than his student. Sarutobi tapped his pipe over the edge of his ashtray causing the burnt soot to fall into it. He placed the pipe in its holder and calmly looked at Minato. "Welcome back." Jiraiya gave a short nod but Minato seemed to shiver.

"Can I go see Naruto? He's ok right? Is he at home, or is he staying with Kushina?" Jiraiya put a hand out to calm the blonde and Sarutobi sighed. "Minato, your brother was near death when he came in, and from what I heard he almost didn't survive the surgery. He's still in the intensive care ward I believe. He's stable enough that they started to allow visitors yesterday but that might have been just to shut those two friends of his up." Minato managed to look even more worried yet relieved at the same time.

"So I can go see him?" Sarutobi looked at Jiraiya who shrugged. "Is there anything that you know that would be critical to Jiraiya's explanation?" Minato shook his head quickly and Sarutobi sighed. "I'll let you go since you look like death on your feet, but I expect you to write a report before you sleep tonight and forget what happened. If you see Kushina ask her to help you. I'm sure she'd be happy for the distraction." Minato nodded practically vibrating with the need to visit his brother. Sarutobi waved his hand and Minato was out of the office so fast, Jiraiya suspected he might have used his hiraishin.

* * *

The world was a blur as Minato made his way to the hospital. It was the middle of the night so all the honest folk had gone home and he didn't have to apologize for bumping into some even once. Practically running through the hospital doors, he jogged to the front desk and took a deep breath.

"?" The lady from behind the desk stared at him for a good long few seconds before saying, "Excuse me?" Minato sighed and said, slower this time, "I need to see my brother, Namikaze Naruto." The lady turned and grabbed her clipboard, flipping through a few pages.

"Your name?" "Namikaze Minato." "Ah, I thought so. You need to sign these before we can release him into your custody." The lady handed him another clipboard that was struggling to keep all of the papers in its clip. Minato sighed and grabbed a pen. It took him nearly ten minutes of scanning and signing. Ten horrifying minutes that worsened the more he read what he was signing off to. The pages were essentially him saying that he had given Kushina permission to give the surgical team permission to perform certain procedures, and there were a lot of procedures. They didn't go into much detail, and half of the bulk was what Kushina had signed that he had to resign. When he finally finished, the pen was starting to run out and his fingers ached. The lady behind the desk had made him a special after hours visitor tag while he was signing the never ending stack of papers, and handed it to him as he handed her the clipboard. "He's in room 304. Try to be quiet please, it is the ICU ward." Minato nodded and gave her his thanks.

The elevator ride was short and long at the same time. He was giddy and worried, and tons of other emotions tumbled through him that had not let him rest more than a few minutes in the last week. He had large black bags under his eyes, and he wasn't sure of the wrinkles on his forehead from frowning would ever leave. The door number jumped out in front of him as he walked down the white hallway and his heart started pounding. Opening the door slowly and quietly, he was taken aback by what he saw.

* * *

"Was it a success?" Sarutobi said, taking his hat off. He had been about to retire for the night when Jiraiya sent him a toad announcing their arrival. It took them an hour to arrive, during which Hiruzen scrubbed his eyes and had his assistant pour him a cup of strong tea. "The mission was a success, yes. The injuries that the team took make me consider this a giant failure. How are the 4 we sent here 2 months ago?" Sarutobi nodded and said, "They all survived. The woman might turn into an admirer of yours; I've heard that she talks about how you bravely saved her." Sarutobi sighed when Jiraiya's face turned lecherous.

"Moving on please." The Hokage said and Jiraiya frowned slightly. "It was a success, don't worry about that. Kushina did her job and used lightning. The last I heard before I left was that they were blaming Kumo, and I wouldn't be surprised if we hear of strained relations in the next coming weeks. With the attack on us that Iwa tried to pin on Kumo, I wouldn't be surprised if we managed to come to a peace treaty to take down those stone dogs." Sarutobi made a non-committal noise. "I need you to leave again. I need you to get in contact with Tsunade; she has some information that I need."

Jiraiya sighed. Ever since she had discovered gambling and how bad she was at it she was reluctant to stay in one place for longer than a few days. It'd be a pain in the ass to find her. "Really? It's going to take me months to find her. She's really good at hiding. Who's the information from?" Jiraiya said, whining like he was 12. "It's from Orochimaru. He with a bit of Tsunade's help I hear, have discovered something new for the hospitals. That's all I can say until I get it though."

"What about the brat? How was he? Is he likely to wake up soon?" Hiruzen shook his head tiredly. His hair looked greyer at night. "He's alive. He's still in the medically induced coma. They are taking that away from him tomorrow I hear so he might wake up then, provided that the damage wasn't too great and he just never wakes up." Jiraiya sucked his breath in. He didn't even want to think what Minato would do if the brat died on him.

"Well, do you mind if I stay to see if he wakes up? I've grown... attached. He's really something." Sarutobi's eyes turned hard for a moment before he shut them. "Anything suspicious?" Jiraiya frowned and looked down. "Some things he told me were lies, or partial lies. He seemed really reluctant to lie to me though. When I first met him he looked at me like I was a ghost as well. It was weird. I haven't really pondered on it though; I'll get back to you about it when I get back." Sarutobi nodded when Jiraiya finished speaking and bid him a good night and good luck. Jiraiya sighed, inclined his head and left the room with a quiet _click_ of the door. Sarutobi just sighed harder.

* * *

Minato froze as he fully processed what he saw. Kushina was snoring softly with her head resting on Naruto's bed. Her hair was a mess of red falling down her back with some of it almost touching the floor. He noticed the messy cot that had been laid in the corner and the vases of garishly coloured flowers and cards that decorated the night stand beside his bed. When Minato finally gathered enough courage to look at his brother he found that he had walked to the bedside quiet enough to not disturb Kushina.

There was an oxygen mask covering the blonde's face and when Minato looked closer he saw that his younger brother had a tube shoved down his throat. The blonde's hand crept to his throat and he grimaced. Peeking under the thin blanket he saw the mass of bandages that were wound around his torso, but other than that, Naruto looked like he was sleeping relatively peacefully. Tucking the corner back in Kushina moaned and Minato jumped at the noise.

Sitting up and rubbing her eyes she looked up at the blonde and before he could say anything she stood up and threaded her arms under his and squeezed him tightly to her. Minato blushed a bit at first but when she started to quietly sob he just wrapped his arms around her and rested his head on top of hers. When she finally stopped and pulled away, she wiped her eyes and smiled at Minato. "I'm glad you're home. Naruto's healing really well apparently."

The red-head gazed back at the blonde teenager on the bed. She then realized that she was still holding onto Minato for dear life and blushed and pulled away completely. Both adults immediately pined for the other's warmth. Minato broke the awkward silence that followed. "Have you been sleeping here the entire week?" Kushina looked down. "Yes... I mean, I go home to eat and shower, but I spend the nights here. It's my fault he's like this..." Her trailing off was interrupted by Minato grabbing her shoulders and saying, "No, Kushina, never. If it wasn't for you Naruto would be dead! I'm nothing but grateful to yo-mmmmfff..." It was Minato's turn to be cut off as Kushina quickly covered his mouth with her own. After a moment when shock of what she had done had worn off she tried to pull back and apologize but Minato pulled her back to him and slid a hand into her hair and held the back of her head.

Kushina nearly melted. She closed her eyes and unconsciously leaned into the kiss, her hands gripped the back of Minato's flax vest. When the kiss finally broke both were left breathing heavily and red-faced. Kushina let her head rest on his chest listening to Minato struggle to get his heart beat under control as she tried the same. "Uh... S-so, does this mean you'll go to dinner tomorrow?" Kushina laughed and nodded before finally pulling away.

"What time is it?" Kushina asked, looked at the darkness outside the window. "About 3 am." Minato replied. Kushina gave him a sweet smile that held a tenderness about it that set his heart aflutter again. "I'm going home to sleep in my bed. I should sleep nicely now that I know Naruto-kun is being watched over by you. I'll see you tomorrow at 5." Minato waved still slightly in a daze and Kushina hurriedly exited the room. Minato sat down in the chair beside Naruto's bed and peeled his dirty vest off. Resting his head down on the bed, he only had enough time to blush at the tingling feeling Kushina's lips had left behind before the week of practically no sleep caught up with him hard.

* * *

He felt like he had been floating for a long time, despite not actually having any memory of it. His muscles were stiff and sore and as he tried to move he found that he couldn't. His breathing became erratic and his heart beat sped up as he started to panic, it was then that Namikaze Naruto's eyelids snapped open.

"Welcome to the world of the living." An achingly familiar voice said to his right. It took more effort than it should have to turn his head and take in the sight of Jiraiya. The white haired man had been jotting notes down, but stopped when he saw the signs of the boy waking up. Before he could control himself, tears sprung to Naruto's blue eyes. "Y-you're alive..." he said quietly, his voice raspy with disuse. Jiraiya looked at him quizzically before replying, "Yes. Did you think I had died? How did I die?" Naruto made an effort to reach his face and wipe away tears and felt mildly impressed that it wasn't as tiring as he expected it to be. "Pain killed you, I mean... Baa-chan showed me your body." Jiraiya's eyes narrowed and Naruto pulled his hand away from his eyes and looked at it. He then looked at Jiraiya's face and bit his lip before dropping his hand.

_Oops_. Jiraiya still had his eyes narrowed at the blonde who hastily said, "Sorry... I think I was dreaming. How long was I out?" Jiraiya still had his eyes narrowed and Naruto was sure he'd hear more about this later, but right before Sennin opened his mouth to answer the door opened and admitted another familiar blonde. "Sensei I got you a bowl of shrimp, they didn't have any pork left-Naruto-kun!" Minato looked like he was about to drop the bowls of ramen, but he gently set them on the table beside his bed.

Reaching out to touch his hand Minato freely let tears run from his eyes. "Ni-san, stop crying, I'm fine. Just a little sore. You're acting like I was never going to wake up." Reaching out to ruffle his younger brother's hair like he used to, Naruto slapped his hand away and Minato couldn't help but laugh. He pulled his brother into a hug that was tight enough to make Naruto grunt with pain, after which Minato immediately let go.

"How long have I been out?" Naruto asked again. The fact that his brother was crying clued him into the fact that he may have been out for as long as a week this time. The poor guy was always such a worry wart. Minato's face managed to look worried and relieved at the same time. "Naruto-kun, you've been in a coma for almost 6 weeks." Naruto gawked.

"What!" he managed to shout. Minato reached over and pressed the red flashing button that was attached to Naruto's finger. "Everyone's been worried. Kushina-chan slept here for the first week before I got back and we took turns for a while after you didn't wake up when they took you out of the induced coma." Minato paused, trying to push down the emotions that were surfacing. "Everyone thought you weren't going to wake up... Don't ever do that to me again." Naruto looked up at his brother with a lopsided smile. "Don't worry, I don't ever intend to."

The door to the room opened just as Jiraiya finished his ramen and Minato started in on his. He had tried to give it to Naruto, but Jiraiya wouldn't let him. The last thing they needed was Naruto puking his guts out all over them because they didn't introduce food back into him properly. The door admitted a doctor who at first glance looked like Shizune to Naruto. He was hit with a pang of sadness for everyone that had lost their lives for stupid reasons.

"Ah, you're awake! I'm sure the Hokage and Uzumaki-san will be glad." Naruto smiled weakly for her, just the conversation with his brother had left him tired. "How are you feeling, any nausea?" Naruto shook his head and she clicked a pen light and flashed it in his eyes, checking his pupil dilations. "Any soreness?" "I'm sore all over. It pretty much feels like I haven't moved in 6 weeks." The doctor smiled and moved to his next eye.

"What about your breathing? Does it feel wet or hurt at all?" Naruto drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. "A little of both actually." The doctor who looked like Shizune lifted the back of his shirt and pressed a cold stethoscope to it and listened to him breath for a few seconds before pulling his shirt down. Naruto leaned back and she said, "There is a bit of liquid in your lungs from lying down for so long, and the soreness is probably from the bruising left over on your rib bones that were broken. The liquid should clear up when you start physical therapy to work out the atrophy in your muscles, and the bruising should heal on its own." Minato nodded and Naruto's eyes fluttered. He was really feeling tired now. The doctor patted his head and said, "Sleep and rest. It's the body's best medicine." Naruto briefly heard his brother say something before he slipped away into bliss.

* * *

When the blonde next awoke it was dark. Looking down to his right he spotted Minato's spikes sleeping on the corner of his bed. Sitting up he tried to stretch his aching back and work his arms a little more. "Mmm, Naruto-kun? You're awake again?" Minato sat up and rubbed his eyes before giving his younger brother a large smile.

"Will you let me try and walk to the bathroom?" Naruto said, fully aware of his henning tendencies when he was hurt. Minato looked pensive, and almost said 'no', but ultimately gave in to Naruto's large pleading eyes. "I guess, but I will be right beside you in case you can't support yourself yet. Here, put these on the floor is cold." Minato handed Naruto a pair of slippers which he got on with minimal struggle. He awkwardly stood up and took a couple of steps. "Well, I just feel sore and tired, not really any weaker. Is that a good thing?" Minato nodded with a small smile. Naruto took a couple more steps gaining his balance back with each one. By the time he reached the bathroom he felt almost normal. He was glad his muscles hadn't atrophied as much as everyone had feared.

On the way back to the bed, Naruto's stomach rumbled and Minato laughed. "Come on, the doctor said that when you woke you'd be hungry and that if you felt like it you could try some juice and apple sauce. I'll even let you try and walk down with me if you want." Naruto's eyes widened. "Who are you and what have you done with my brother?" he said, the Minato he knew would have tied him to the bed so he could serve him with a spoon rather than take the risk he'd over exert himself. Minato just laughed and helped him get a robe on.

If the doctors thought that Naruto's body healed itself unusually fast, they would have been astounded at how fast he got his coordination back. By the time they had finished their meals Naruto was talking and laughing and was able to walk almost as well as he had before. Aside from fatigue, Naruto felt almost normal.

* * *

It was 11pm and Kushina was tired. She had just arrived from her mission and she was a mess of sore muscles. Maybe Minato would give her a massage. She was suddenly thankful for the mask she wore; otherwise her teammates would never let the blush that graced her face down. They reported back to their commander rather than the Hokage as he was at home presumably. Kushina spaced out during most of the briefing. She knew that she wouldn't have anything to add and so did her teammates. When they were done her commander called her name. Spinning on her heel she sent the commander an inquisitive look. He told her that the Hokage had left her a message saying that Minato needed to see her in the hospital.

Stowing her mask away she walked at a brisk pace to the hospital. Minato had never sent her a message like this before and worry blossomed in her chest. At the hospital the lady at the desk just nodded her through giving her no indication of what was wrong. She made her way to Naruto's room, but just as she was about to reach for the door knob a voice rang down the hallway.

"Uzumaki-san! If you are looking for Namikaze-san he's down in the cafeteria." Kushina gave the nurse a hurried thanks and turned to go back down to the first floor. When she opened the door to the modest cafeteria, she quickly spotted Minato's blonde mop. What she wasn't expecting was a second blonde mop sitting across from him.

"Naruto-kun?" Naruto whipped his head around at the sound of his name. He saw Kushina with her hands raised to her mouth and gave her a foxy grin. Kushina rushed in and gave Naruto a tight hug.

"Hey ne-chan, apparently it's been a while. How are you?" Kushina pulled back and pushed some of Naruto's hair out of his eyes. She planted a kiss on his forehead and Naruto blushed. "You had me so worried. When did you wake up?" Minato answered instead of a Naruto. "He first woke up two days ago and then again just a few hours ago. I'm going to talk to the doctor tomorrow morning about when he can come home. His muscles didn't atrophy like we had worried they had." Kushina smiled and slipped around the table onto Minato's lap. Minato slipped his arms around her waist oblivious to the looks he was getting from Naruto.

"When did this happen?" Naruto said waving his arms around to indicate Kushina and Minato. Minato looked a little embarrassed and Kushina had smiled but didn't answer. "Around the time I got back I guess." Naruto crossed his arms and said, "Ok. That's cool." Minato looked a little surprised. "You're ok with this?" Naruto laughed.

"Yes I am," Naruto said, "It was disgustingly obvious how much you two liked each other during the mission. To everyone." Minato and Kushina both put their faces in their palms and groaned while Naruto just laughed. "Oh! Speaking of! Was the mission a success? I guess I didn't really get to see the end of it. Tell me how you escaped ni-san! How did I get out?" Kushina and Minato looked at each other and spent the next hour telling him in hushed tones what had happened. By the time they had finished the blonde was nodding off and his brother was ushering him back to his bed. He stayed awake long enough to see Minato and Kushina leave hand in hand and smiled before sleep took over and he dreamt of his Hinatas.

* * *

End of Chapter 15

He's awake! Next Chapter: Naruto gets a few more surprises sprung on him!


	16. Where a Blonde Blasphemes

Chapter 16

* * *

After an examination by a physical therapist the next morning, Naruto was pronounced able to leave the hospital and resume light activities that included light stretching and light-duty runs of the kata Minato had been teaching him for the past few years. The walk was slower than he would have liked, but the fact that Minato was even letting him do it without a single word of fuss was beyond his comprehension. It's like in the 6 weeks he was out Kushina took someone who looked like his brother and moulded him into a new person! Just because Minato stopped excessively henning him didn't mean he escaped it completely. Every few minutes the blonde would ask if he needed to stop for a break, or if he needed help whenever he slowed down a bit. He would never admit it, but he was glad that Minato hadn't completely changed. He could deal with this new toned down Minato just perfectly.

"Naruto-nichan!" A child's voice rang loudly down the fairly packed street. Naruto saw a head of spiky black hair dodging in between villagers before parking itself in front of Naruto. The raven glared up at the blonde before punching him in the gut. It wasn't enough to really hurt, but he still winced and almost laughed when Minato caught the boy's arm and glared at him so hard Obito looked about to wet himself. Naruto smiled and the boy, still throwing glances at Minato and rubbing his arm, wrapped his arms around Naruto's waist and squeezed him tight.

"Don't ever do that again! You made sensei cry a lot!" Naruto smiled sadly and knelt down to his level. "I know, I'll make it up to her, you'll see! Now about you, why are you out in the middle of the streets by yourself? You may be an academy student but you're still only 9." Obito puffed his cheeks out and gave Naruto a sour look.

"I'm ten now, you missed my birthday when you were out. Besides I'm not alone! I'm with oba-chan!" Naruto looked up and saw a pretty black haired lady smiling and waving at Minato. In her arms she carried an infant that appeared to be only a week or two old. The baby had black tufts of hair on the top of his head and was sleeping soundly, oblivious to the bustle around him.

"Ah Minato-san. What a pleasure! And nice to finally meet you Naruto-san. Kushina told me a lot about you from the time you spent together. How are you feeling?" Naruto straightened, placing his hand on Obito's head ruffling the black spikes a little.

"Ah, I'm feeling a lot better than the doctors say I should be," Naruto gave a short laugh and said, "I'm sorry. I don't know your name?" Mikoto laughed and placed a delicate hand to her chest. She reached out to shake his hand and spoke with a kind sounding voice.

"I'm Uchiha Mikoto." That name sounded familiar to Naruto but he dismissed it. There were a lot of Uchiha wandering around these days. "I've been Kushina's best friend since we were children in the academy." There, he might have heard Kushina mention her then. Mikoto dropped his hand and gestured towards her newborn and said with the smile that only a first time mother could make, "and this is little Itachi-chan." Naruto froze half-smile. He had not been expecting that. Not one little bit. Sasuke had told him the circumstances of what had really happened and why, but this baby, this tiny wrinkly, pink baby would one day grow up to kill his entire clan save for a brother not even thought of yet, in cold blood.

"-uto-kun?" Naruto blinked and looked over at his brother. Concern was written in bold all over his face. "Are you ok? Should we go back to the hospital?" Naruto shook his head and smile embarrassingly.

"Sorry, I just got a bit of a cramp. It was sudden and shocked me a bit I guess. Was I making a face?" Minato eyed him before pursing his lips and didn't say anything else. Facing Mikoto again he apologized. "He's very cute, Mikoto-san. Itachi is a strong name too. I'm sure he'll grow up to be a very good ninja!" Mikoto smiled softly again. Minato wrapped the conversation up and Mikoto and Obito eventually left, leaving Minato to turn his full 'concern' on and he bombarded the younger blonde with questions, most of which he didn't know the answers to.

* * *

Climbing up the steps to their small apartment, Naruto had to stop on the third flight to catch his breath, and again on the fifth. It was embarrassing. Minato jiggled his keys into the lock and swung the door open to a horrible sight.

"Sensei! What the hell are you doing?" Jiraiya started and squeezed the carton of milk he had been drinking. The white liquid squirted all over his face and emptied itself onto his shirt and the floor. In the sennin's other hand was a sandwich, and on the counter was more evidence of the thievery that Minato couldn't believe Jiraiya, the frog sennin, had lowered himself to. Unbelievable. Naruto just laughed at the scene.

Wiping his face on the hand towel, Jiraiya ignored Minato's protesting and scrambling to clean the floor up. Dropping the towel on the counter and smiled and opened his arms to Naruto as if to invite a hug. Naruto looked him up and down, still soaked with milk and stood his ground. Jiraiya dropped his arms and said, managing to sneak a little fake-hurt into his voice, "Ah, my boy! You're awake and home! The old man told me you had woken up a few days ago but I didn't expect you to be out so soon!" Naruto shifted his feet and said, "Yea barely any of my muscles atrophied so they told me I could start light exercise and chakra work." "Excellent! Listen are you hungry? I have stuff I need to talk to you about; I'll take you out to dinner."

"But you just ate! My food!" Minato cried out indigently. Jiraiya shrugged and said, "I'll buy you some groceries so shut up. I need to talk to Naruto alone." Minato opened his mouth again, but seeing the look that was starting to creep up on his brother's face he closed it again. There was fear, apprehension, hesitation, and resignation on the boy's face. He mentally noted it and stored it away. "Sensei, he just got out of the hospital. Are you sure it's a good idea?" Jiraiya smiled and said loudly, "Sure! Tsunade-hime was my teammate; I learned a thing or two about medicine. He'll be fine, he's a strong lad!" Naruto didn't say anything as Jiraiya wrapped his arm around his shoulder. In truth, he didn't even notice. The blonde was too busy trying to come up with answers to questions he hadn't been asked yet. Minato hesitated but nodded and informed Jiraiya that he was to bring home Naruto as soon as he got tired, and that he was under no uncertain terms to begin any sort of physical training yet. Jiraiya huffingly agreed and practically dragged the blonde out the apartment.

* * *

At first the white haired man was tempted to sneak him into a bar, but he figured that he was about to talk about sensitive information, so he brought Naruto to the still new Ichiraku ramen. The blonde perked up at sight of his favourite restaurant, but started to wilt when Jiraiya asked for the private room that Ichiraku usually had reserved for business clients. Forking over some cash, the woman that Naruto had been introduced to as Teuchi's wife, led them to the room and took their orders. Jiraiya didn't say anything at all until the ramen arrived some ten minutes later. It was unnerving and Naruto found that his appetite was missing. He poked at his noodles until Jiraiya started to talk.

"Do you know what we need to talk about?" Naruto looked up and wanted to wither at the stern look. "Not really." Naruto responded, although he and Jiraiya both knew that he did.

"If you want some good news, although it hasn't been crossed off the list because you really never know, neither I nor the Hokage believe you to be a sleeper agent. You show none of the signs of that." Naruto felt a heavy weight lift off of his shoulders. He knew that he arrived under suspicious circumstances and this was a shinobi village after all, suspicion was ingrained into them. Naruto looked up when Jiraiya spoke again.

"But just because we don't think you are a sleeper, doesn't mean you aren't the enemy. Minato is one of the strongest active jounin in the village at the moment, and the old man has told me that he is considering adding him to the running of potential candidates to take over his position when he retires, depending on how well your brother handles the work involved." Hearing that his older brother was already working his way into the office made Naruto want to puff his chest out. His brother had all the qualities for Hokage and after living with him for almost three years, it wasn't hard to see the man he'd become and be famous for.

"I know you know that I have been taking note of every little thing you do." Naruto looked down at his untouched ramen. It was blasphemous, but he didn't think he'd be able to take eating any of it. "And some of the things you do can be explained by amnesia, but others... I just can't figure it out." Jiraiya put his hand up to his chin and made a thinking pose. "So help me understand."

Naruto shifted uncomfortably. He was torn. This man was the closest thing he ever had to a father. Iruka tried his best, but Naruto had always thought of him as more of an older brother. "I can try... I guess." Jiraiya lowered his hands.

"I've been searching around using my contacts to their full extent to find anything about you, and I have found some very mysterious information. Would you like to hear about it?" Naruto nodded, trying to keep some colour in his face. "Do you know what the Kyuubi no Youko is?" Naruto gulped and nodded.

"It's a giant fox demon with nine-tails. It's supposed to be terribly evil and made of pure chakra." Jiraiya nodded and said, "Yes yes, until it was sealed away into Uzumaki Mito during the fight at the valley of the end by Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, the first Hokage. The fox escaped once about 15 years ago, but was quickly subdued by Mito-sama, at the cost of her life."

_Sealed up in Kushina, he means._ Naruto thought, scrunching his nose slightly. This was a touchy subject with him, despite the fox being gone from his body for years. "What does the Kyuubi have to do with anything?" Naruto asked; he genuinely didn't know what was going on.

"About 15 years ago, around the time you were probably born, there were a pair of brothers from Kumogakure. When the Kyuubi had rampaged for the two weeks before Mito-sama sealed it up, they had tried, like many others, to defeat the demon. Impossible of course, and the first thing the fox did was to swallow them whole. Now normally this would be the death of anyone, but the two brothers didn't die. They survived for the entire two weeks by eating bits of the fox's flesh and hopefully giving it a bad stomach ache." Jiraiya winked and Naruto smiled weakly. "The fox spit the brothers up and reportedly they have been able to use chakra similar to the Kyuubi's." Naruto smiled a bit more. Despite being Kyuubi's jinchuuriki for the better part of thirty years, no one ever wanted to tell tales of it, other than the devastation it caused to Konoha.

"The most interesting part, though, is that the only physical manifestation of being exposed to so much pure chakra was three scars on either side of their cheeks. Rather a-lot like whisker marks, I hear." Naruto paled again. He had never figured out whether he was born with the marks, if they were scars from a bad caretaker when he was a baby, or if it was just exposure to Kyuubi when he was an infant.

"Do... Do you think I was exposed to its chakra?" Naruto asked, touching his face. Jiraiya shrugged and said, "I don't know, but the timing seems about right. Maybe your mother died when the Kyuubi attacked where ever it was she was being held, or hiding, or whatever happened." Naruto sat back and looked shocked. He had never really given the marks any thought, and the fact that they had occurred on others made him wonder why Kushina didn't bear any marks.

"Is that what you wanted to tell me? You could have said that in front of Minato." Naruto said, stirring the now cold ramen with a chopstick. Jiraiya stopped smiling. "I like you, gaki. The old man likes you too. He says that you remind him of me when I was your age, albeit a little less..." Jiraiya was at a loss for what to call his special talents so Naruto finished for him. "Perverted?" Jiraiya clicked his tongue but didn't argue.

"There is something strange about this whole thing though. Nothing makes sense. I see that you don't like doing it, especially to me for some reason, but you lie all the time when you talk about yourself. I can see that some of it is a partial lie, and some of the things you tell are truths, but whether or not they are in context, I don't believe you have amnesia. Not in the sense that Minato and the Old Man thinks anyway." Naruto gaped. He didn't know how to respond to that, so he didn't. He just stared with wide, scared blue eyes.

"Because I like you so much, I'm not handing you over to the interrogation squad. There is something in your eyes that shows you know way more than you are supposed to, and I'm giving you your chance right now." Naruto sat and stared down at his ramen. He sat and started to think. No matter how hard he thought though, it seemed like every answer, every story he came up were flimsier and more ridiculous than the last. Taking a deep breath he looked up slowly and right into Jiraiya's eyes.

"I...Ok. I want two conditions before I say anything." Jiraiya's eyes were immediately interested, but his body language immediately turned a bit hostile. If Naruto was an enemy he'd have no choice but to incapacitate this kid, and that thought was threatening to break his heart. The white haired man nodded sharply and Naruto took another breath.

"What I tell you does not leave this room. I don't want the old man Hokage to know about this...yet, or ever. I trust you a lot more than I trust him. So the ANBU detail there," he pointed above him to the ceiling, "and there," he pointed to the far wall, "need to leave. As well as any other surveillance device you are carrying." Jiraiya looked startled and there was a small thump that sounded through the floor of the ceiling. Jiraiya nodded and waved his hands, and Naruto felt the chakra signatures disappear. Jiraiya pulled out the small wire he had in his poket and dismissed a tiny little toad no bigger than his thumb. Naruto closed his eyes and felt around. He snorted quietly when he found nothing that would impeach his conditions.

"I realize that Hokage-sama will be very interested to hear this, since I dismissed his ANBU, but to be honest, they aren't very good at hiding themselves. I've been noticing them since Ni-san started training me years ago. I'll tell him eventually, I suppose. But he can wait until the time is right. I'm feeling the pressure of this whole thing and I need an ally." Jiraiya almost smiled. He liked this kid more and more.

"This is a long and awful story and I really hate thinking about it, much less thinking about it. So stop me if you have a question, I will not repeat myself." Jiraiya nodded after a second.

"And the second requirement?" Jiraiya asked, causing the blonde to let a small smile slip onto his features.

"Sake. You should order us Sake. I haven't had any in years." Jiraiya's eyes opened wide and then narrowed. What responsible adult let children have sake? Jiraiya poked his head out of the room. Jiraiya was many things, but 'responsible adult' wasn't one that came up very often.

Jiraiya poured the first up of hot sake and watched as Naruto slammed it back like a professional. At least, until he started coughing. Naruto beat his chest and frowned. "I guess I'm not as healed as I thought I was."

Jiraiya poured another cup for himself and Naruto, who sipped it slowly this time.

"I guess... A good place to start is that, well, I'm from the future."

"What."

Naruto scratched the back of his head and sighed. "It's really hard to explain. I... I tried to kill myself and someone activated a presumably unheard of and forbidden jutsu and tried to send me back to the day before to undo my mistake, but it was interfered with and I got sent a lot farther back than I thought I would." He saw the look on Jiraiya's face and took another gulp of the warm liquid.

"This is so ridiculous I can't even tell if you are lying." Jiraiya finally managed.

"Is it more ridiculous than if I told you I was 29 before? And a father?" Pain flashed behind Naruto's eyes as they always did and Jiraiya let his mouth fall open.

"Kami-sama... You..." Jiraiya rubbed a hand through his hair and looked around to see if someone was waiting to jump out and yell "Surprise!" but no one was there. Of course not. He let his hand fall down and said, "Alright. Start from the beginning. Wherever you see fit." Naruto nodded. Jiraiya's reaction had almost been amusing.

"I'll start from the beginning. My life's been a mess since the day I was born." Naruto took a deep breath and told his life story. All the way up to the day little Hinata died in Sakura's equally cold arms.

Naruto stopped to wipe tears off of his face, and saw through the window that the sun had fallen and Minato was probably furious. Standing up he dusted his pants off and left without a word. Jiraiya watched him leave but he didn't stop him. The white haired man had been relatively quiet, only asking a few questions here and there, but Naruto had no doubt that after a night of stewing on it he'd have a whole book of questions to ask.

He made his way home slowly, stiff from sitting, but the exercise felt good. He was right in that his brother was worried; Minato wouldn't sit down and didn't stop berating him, Jiraiya, and the entire village until he had personally tucked the younger blonde onto his futon, much to Naruto's chagrin. Telling Jiraiya was oddly uplifting, he felt as if a lot of weight had been lifted from his entire being, and he was pretty sure that he fell asleep before his brother even stopped talking.

* * *

End Chapter 16

:O Sorry, I had this finished for a few days but my mom's dog chewed through my laptop cord and I had to wait until my dad fixed it for me. Also as to Jiraiya's reactio, I hope I portrayed it in an easy to understand way. I imagined that at first he'd be like "what." but after seeing no lies in Naruto's body language he decided to entertain him. Whether or not he believes Naruto is an issue for another time. :)


	17. Bake Tanuki

**I want to start off by thanking each and every person who has stuck with this story and/or is a new reader. **Seeing new alerts for me or my stories is really inspirational to me and keeps me writing! I apologize for the long wait, I have a very hectic life. When I do get time off I usually just want to sit and relax and not be creative. I just want to let everyone know that is probably going to be my last chapter until the end of April/beginning of June area when my term ends and I'm free for a few months from university. So, enjoy, and hopefully you'll see more from me soon!

* * *

Chapter 17

* * *

Naruto stood tall and proud as he looked over the small hilly village that was hidden in the grass. Its name didn't lie and as Naruto soon found out, the grass that they had to walk through to find the main village was nearly double his height. Every few seconds he had to wipe pollen and leaves off of his face and he just knew that before he made it to the village he would be full of small cuts where the leaves had scraped against his skin. Glancing behind him Himawari was having the same difficulty, albeit her eyes were swollen and tearing and she sniffled every few minutes. She didn't realize that she had been allergic to grass until she had been surrounded by so much of it. Poor girl. Facing forward again, Jiraiya seemed unaffected, much too intent on the map in his hands. There was no trail to follow, and it was too difficult to see the sky through the tops of the grass. Kusagakure didn't seem like a well-defended village on paper, but Naruto was realizing that traps would be next to impossible to detect in this. Himawari sneezed and Naruto handed her a travel pack of tissues.

It had been almost six months since Naruto had been discharged from the hospital and only four since he had been allowed to resume strenuous exercise on the condition that his doctor was allowed to poke and prod him and find out why his healing time was so much faster than a normal persons. His doctor was nice and taught him some healing techniques that were taught to beginner medic-nin. Never again would he be injured that greatly and not be able to do anything about it. Kushina had relayed how panicked she was that he wouldn't survive because she knew nothing about healing whatsoever. She had told Naruto what she had done, although she didn't say anything about Kyuubi. The blonde knew that he would have to talk to her one day about it.

Jiraiya on the other hand was always available for questions when he was not away on a mission and after the blondes retelling of his life's story he had been slowly but surely asking him questions intent on getting him to expand on nearly everything. It was such a relief that he had someone to talk to without hiding who he was. Naruto hadn't slept so well in a long time.

All of this had led up to just a week prior to his current situation; he had been rounded up and told about a very important mission.

* * *

_Naruto walked up to the red bridge that he held so many memories of and was surprised to see Himawari gazing over the railing into the river as it lazily swept under the bridge. Her choppy indigo locks fell just down past her ears and her hiteate shone brightly on her forehead. Naruto raised his hand and said, "Yo." Himawari jumped but smiled brightly when she saw who it was._

"_Oh Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?" She asked, and Naruto replied that he could have asked her the same. "I'm actually going on a mission with Kushina-san! I'm so excited!" Naruto put his hand to his chin._

"_That's strange. I'm meeting my brother here to go on a mission with him as well. Oh! Maybe we're all going on a joint mission!" Himawari smiled and said, "Oh how fun that would be!" Any further conversation was cut off at that point by the mentioned couple arriving seemly out of nowhere._

"_Aw I didn't know both of you could do that. Can you pleasssssseeeee teach me?" Minato laughed and Kushina smiled. "One day." Minato answered. Kushina then clapped her hands together and said, "Alright kids listen up. I need you guys to read these and sign them." She produced two pamphlets and handed them to each of the genin._

_Naruto's mouth stretched into a grin so wide Minato thought his cheeks would crack. If he had looked to his right he would have seen Himawari frown for a split second before she regained composure and her face remained neutral. Both of the adults saw the change but figured it was her own business._

"_I didn't know Kusagakure was holding chuunin exams." Naruto said, signing the pamphlet before he even read it. "Who's going to be our third?" _

"_This is Kusagakure's very first exams and they would like to do it the way they test their own genin in their village. Kusa is not a very big village and most of the teams are partners rather than squads of three, so the Hokage saw this as an opportunity for the stragglers and apprentices to get a promotion. Until about 15 minutes ago Kushina and I were to be your teachers but we just got called on an emergency mission so Jiraiya-sensei will be taking over for us. He's also a judge so you guys will be responsible for your selves for most of the exam. I trust you two to give Konoha a good name and keep your hands to yourselves." Naruto sputtered and Himawari's face turned beet red. Kushina had to wipe tears from her eyes from laughing so hard. After Naruto had regained composure and shot his brother the nastiest death-glare he could muster he looked down at his pamphlet and spoke._

"_So how many other Konoha teams are attending?" Minato shrugged and Kushina, still snickering, said, "Four. Now I'm pretty sure you both know the rules of this thing, if you wish to participate be sure to bring that pamphlet in, signed, tomorrow to the Hokage. Any questions?" Both Himawari and Naruto shook their heads._

* * *

"Ahh, this way! We're nearly there!" Exclaimed Jiraiya. Himawari muttered something that didn't sound terribly friendly and Naruto just grinned. In his past life he hadn't been able to ever enter into another Chuunin exam and became the first unofficial Hokage to ever attain the title still ranked a genin. He doubted there was anything like crazy snake themed pedophiles wandering around in the grass, although he wasn't going to rule it out. Naruto grit his teeth to keep the sudden dread creeping into his gut away. Nothing would go wrong and he would get promoted. He had done far more dangerous missions with his brother and with the exception of his last major mission, nothing had gone wrong.

At mention of his last mission, Naruto's chest started to itch and blonde scratched it softly. The skin was still pink and sensitive in some places.

Despite Jiraiya proclaiming that they were close, they didn't stumble out of the tall grass until nearly sunset. Kusagakure appeared to be a modest sized village with a few hundred permanent inhabitants and almost a hundred more various merchants and peddlers that owned property. For those that could find their way through the grass Kusa was a bustling little site of business opportunities. Two Jounin were waiting for the trio as they fell out of the grass and tried to dust the pollen, dirt, and dust off of themselves.

"Welcome to Kusagakure, please state your business." They both said in unison, making the hair on Naruto's neck stand up. Jiraiya smiled and handed the guards their passports.

"We are here to attend the Chuunin Exams. This is Namikaze Naruto and Hyuuga Himawari." Jiraiya waved his hand over the pair and they both tried to look dignified, although Himawari looked more like death walking. The guards nodded and one of them raised a concern about Himawari. The girl waved her hand and quietly said, "Allergies."

"Well your papers check out and we have been expecting you Jiraiya-sama. There are rooms booked for you and your students, although due to our rules, judges and competitors cannot stay in the same building. There is a room booked for you in the Taicho's guest building." He handed Naruto and Himawari a booklet each. A quick glance at the cover had the kanji for the village and a little number 1 had been printed on the bottom of the cover.

"There is a map in there that will direct you to your building. Just give the inn keeper your names and she'll take care of the rest." The guard who expressed concern over Himawari leaned in and said in a quieter voice, "There's a pharmacy about 3 streets farther down the road from the inn. More people in Kusagakure suffer from allergies than you might think." Himawari gave a thankful short bow and the two Ninja saluted them off into the village.

* * *

Despite it being nearly sunset the roads still had a fair amount of people in them, especially as they neared the restaurant district. Jiraiya ditched them as soon as he saw a bar that looked like it had dancers in it. Naruto rolled his eyes and escorted Himawari to the pharmacy that proved to be very simple to find.

The room that had been rented to them was of modest size, two futons had been folded in the middle of the room for them and they had their own private bathroom. Naruto opened his travel bag and sorted through his stuff to make sure everything was in order while Himawari tried to wash the pollen out of her hair in the shower.

"A-ah, Naruto-kun?" Naruto turned his head and promptly blushed. Turning back to face his stuff he answered in a squeaky voice. "Y-yes?" Himawari had just poked her head out the door, but Naruto could see the outline of her very shapely body squeezed into a towel that appeared too small for her. Her hair was plastered flat to her forehead and face, and he knew that her curse seal would be imprinted there, although his eyes didn't make it up that far.

He didn't have to look at her to know she was struggling with her words much more than Naruto was. He could hear it in the way she had to force her words out. For some reason that made it even worse to the blonde.

"C-can you p-pass me my bag? I d-didn't grab c-clean clothes…" Naruto scrambled to grab her bag and tried to, as respectfully as possible, push the bag into her hands without actually throwing it at her, but he ended up both pushing and throwing and missing terribly. It hit the wall next to her and she had to bend down to pick it up, pushing more of her cleavage out of the too-small towel. She snaked her way back into the bathroom and didn't come out for nearly an hour. Not that Naruto minded he had other problems to deal with in the corner of their room.

When the Hyuuga finally slipped out of the bathroom, Naruto was reading the booklet the ninja had given him. The exam didn't start for another 5 full days, not including this one. The sun had set but it was still early in the evening and the nightlife was going full swing. The booklet appeared normal by all means. It had a map that pointed out popular tourist destinations. It had a list of restaurants with price guides and lists of stores and attractions. Konoha had one of these, albeit it was much bigger. Hell he had even been given one in Iwagakure, although, laughably, Iwa's was much smaller than Kusagakure's. Either they didn't care or they didn't know how to have any proper sorts of fun. Naruto rubbed his chest again. Definitely the latter.

"Anything interesting?" Himawari said, sitting down beside him against the wall, but keeping a respectful distance. He could see that her face was started to redden again but he ignored it. He learned from experience that when a girl was embarrassed better to ignore it and pretend nothing happened.

"Well there are a few ramen bars I want to visit, but other than a written greeting for competitors it's pretty much just a standard visitor's guide." Himawari extended her hand and Naruto handed the book over. She flipped the first page open and read the written note out loud.

"_FirsT and foremost, I wish to welcome All examiNees and wish yoU much lucK in the upcomIng exams. Please feel fRee to explore the city As Much as you want, wE are a very peaceful aNd friendly village! There are however, a few ground ruleS that we must all follow if the combination of villages is to be tolerated! No fighting outside of the exam! Any such behaviour reflects badly on your resPective villagEs and you will be disqualified, no Chances. Once the exam starts, you will not be allowed unsupervIsed visits with Any of the judges. I reaLize that some of the competitors travelled with judges, so we have set up a supervised forum that the judges are required to attend every day for three hours between 2pm and 4pm. Please enjoy your stay in Kusagakure and good luck! Signed, Kazuo Takeshi._"

"Who is Kazuo Takeshi?" Naruto asked after Himawari finished. Himawari answered distractedly, as she was reading the passage again. "He's the leader of the village. Something like a Hokage, but more like a mayor. Huh, that's weird." "What is?" Himawari didn't answer back right away but when she finally did she moved the book so she could Naruto could see the passage.

"See these characters here? Either this person has horrible grammar, or these characters were changed on purpose." Naruto's interest was instantly perked. "What do they say?" He asked. Himawari dug in her bag and pulled out a pen. Under the paragraph she wrote down the characters that had been changed. Naruto nearly laughed.

_Tanuki Ramen Special_

"Is there a place called Tanuki Ramen listed in there? I think this was a really obvious cryptograph. Maybe the writer's way of telling us all about his favourite restaurant? He sounds like he might be similar to you." Naruto laughed again and Himawari blushed. She almost couldn't believe she had been that forward with him. He didn't even look like he minded either! This was a success!

"I didn't see one listed but I didn't get very far into it. Here let's look. The ramen places start on page 46." The Hyuuga couldn't help but send her partner an exasperated look. He wasn't even fazed. Ramen was his one true love. Flipping to page 46 they skimmed the pages until they eventually came upon a place called Bake Tanuki. Naruto smiled and put his jacket on. Himawari had been hoping for something other than ramen for dinner. Maybe they sold sandwiches.

* * *

Bake Tanuki was surprisingly hard to locate, although after nearly 2 hours of looking they finally found it. It was tucked down in the back of an alley and it was tiny. The entire shop was maybe 4 by 4 metres wide. There was only enough room for 4 stools, two for each corner of the half-square counter. There was enough space for the cook to stand or sit and the rest of the space was taken up by cooking equipment. The place was clean enough that Himawari didn't feel too uncomfortable eating there.

The décor of the shop was cluttered in Himawari's opinion. Naruto didn't really have an opinion because it was ramen and who the hell cared what the store looked like. A stuffed Tanuki sat in the corner high up near the ceiling, wearing a large hat and was holding a bottle of sake. Its fake eyes were freaking Himawari out only a little bit.

"Yo, Oya-jii! I heard you sell ramen! I heard you had a special, what's it all about?" Naruto said loudly as he sat down on the far seat, allowing Himawari the seat that nearly hung out in the alley way in case she needed to escape. The old man rubbed his hands together and said, "Boy I gots me the best special ramen in town. Tanuki soup! Does ya like chicken or beef broth better?" Naruto raised his fist over his head and said, rather childishly, "Chicken!"

"And you little miss? What can I get ya?" Himawari looked around for a sign that he cooked anything other than ramen and didn't see any. She sighed. "I'll have just a small bowl of miso ramen please." The old man saluted her and smiled a smile full of broken and yellow teeth. The Byakugan user repulsed the urge to grimace. She was better than that.

She didn't, however, have the composure to keep her face straight when Naruto was handed his bowl almost ten minutes later. Sitting in the middle of his brother, noodles, eggs, and various vegetables, were two large round balls of meat. She really hoped it was ground beef or even ground tanuki. _As long as it's some kind of ground meat._ Naruto clapped his hands together and chorused, "Itadakimasu!" and dug in, taking a large bite of one of the meat balls. Himawari nearly gagged. She wasn't sure if he was just that oblivious, or if he didn't care and overcame any comprehension with his love of ramen.

As her own much smaller dish was placed in front of her, she almost decided to not eat it, but her stomach betrayed her and gave a small but annoying twist to let her know it was hungry. Tentatively she took a small bite of the noodles and was pleasantly surprised. The ramen was actually delicious! Not the best she's ever had, that was reserved for the new Ichiraku ramen back home, but it was very good. She could understand how Naruto was on his through a second bowl before she was even halfway done her first.

When Naruto had his fill, and Himawari was mystified as to where all of his food had gone, as usual, the old man whom Himawari had found out to be rather pleasant and cheerful pulled out their bill and wrote on the back. Handing it to Naruto he cheerfully paid for their meals and read the back.

"The Beckoning Cat? What does that mean?" The old man sat back down on his stool and stashed the money in a bag hanging on his belt. "It's a small shop that sells mostly lunchtime meals. The beautiful woman who runs it is ma' wife. Tell 'er I sent ya and she'll make ya the best sandwich ya've ever had! It's closed now but she opens up at about 9 in the a.m. and it's open until just before the dinner rush." Himawari silently thanked the old man. Now she'd have real food! "Wow thank you Oya-jii! I'll definitely go there!" The old man smiled his broken smile and waved at them as they left.

The streets had emptied after the dinner rush and only a few people were quietly walking back to their own homes. The only people who even made eye contact with Himawari and Naruto were a pair of ninja from Kumogakure. One of them had a vicious burn scar that he tried to cover his shirt and a scarf. Both teams held each other's eye contact until they passed each other. Himawari used her Byakugan subtly to see that they had turned down the same alley that they had just come out.

"It looks like someone else solved the little riddle in the book." Himawari said when they were out of earshot. "Hmm?" Naruto said; his eyes were starting to show the little sleep he had attained during the trip here. Himawari smiled and shook her head. She cautiously threaded her arm around Naruto's and when he didn't pull away she relaxed and enjoyed the contact.

* * *

End Chapter 17


	18. Basashi is a Real Thing

Chapter 18

* * *

When Himawari bit down into the sandwich the owner of the Beckoning Cat had made her, she almost cried. She had been eating nothing but travel rations, energy bars, and a bowl of ramen for the past week and a half. The sandwich had layers of delicate flavours packed into it and the young Hyuuga couldn't express her feeling with words, only a low, satisfied moan. By the time she had taken her third bite, her blonde partner was already finished eating.

"Ba-san, that was delicious! Even better than my brother's sandwiches, and that's saying something!" The old woman smiled, wrinkling her face even further, and gave Naruto a kind pat on his head. He had decided not to order anything else as Himawari finished savouring her meal and she noticed that he had started to let his attention wander to the many photos and pieces of art that decorated the small shop. What finally captured and held his attention was a white cat that had been sunning itself in the window. Naruto nearly started when he disturbed the cat causing it to let out a loud meow.

"Oh hey kitty, enjoying the warmth?" He said and gave the cat a scratch behind its ears. The cat settled its head back down, closed its eyes and started to purr loudly. He turned to the old woman and said, "What's his name?" The woman put her dish back into the sink and smiled.

"That's old Shikini. He's nice, don't worry." Naruto turned back to the cat and gave it a stroke along the length of its tail before pausing. "What happened to his tail? Did he break it?" The old woman sighed.

"I rescued him when he was barely a year old. Some superstitious old fool of a woman thought that he was a nekomata and cut his tail off and left him to die out in an alley. I heard his cries and nursed him back to health. He doesn't even miss it." Naruto frowned. Ideas were starting to form in his head and he sat down near the cat, staring at the place where the tail should have been. Instead it ended in a smooth nub with only a little bit of scarring. When he gave it a poke the cat opened an eye to look at him but otherwise continued purring like the world was ending.

Himawari finished her sandwich and paid for their meals before leaning down next to Naruto. "He really likes you. Maybe you smell like fishcakes." Naruto stuck his tongue out at Himawari and shared a small laugh with her. Turning to the old woman he asked, "Do you know of a place that sells good turtle soup? Or any kind of turtle food really, I don't know what else they cook with it." The woman thought for a second before shaking her head. "Sorry, I don't. May I ask why?" Naruto shrugged. Maybe he was wrong. Giving the cat a final pet he stood up and left the small shop.

"Are you still hungry?" Naruto turned to Himawari and shook his head. "I have a theory." he said, looking down the street. The two cloud ninja they had run into yesterday were making their way down the road towards them. The taller of them glared at Naruto but he ignored them. "I think this might be a test. I mean it's only two so far, but is it just a coincidence?" Himawari blinked her large white eyes but said nothing.

"I think we might have to go to places that are involved in some way with the tailed beasts. First a ramen bar with a one tailed tanuki, then a sandwich shop with a cat that was once thought to be a two tailed cat…" He thought for a second, "I bet its food themed too." Himawari was impressed. She did not doubt that Naruto was intelligent. He could plan out battle scenarios better than most Jounin, counting for every twist and turn, but he wasn't the best critical thinker.

"Naruto-kun, that…actually sounds plausible. Did you see any hints about turtles?" Naruto looked at Himawari and pursed his lips. "You sound surprised that I thought of this." Himawari blushed and looked down before Naruto laughed out loud.

"I didn't see anything," he said, answering her question, "but check the guide book. Anything that involves turtles we'll seek out ourselves." Himawari nodded and pulled the book from her small pack and flipped through the pages.

"Three places, two have something to do with turtles in their names and one serves turtle soup as a special this week." The Hyuuga said, and Naruto clapped his hands together. "Excellent."

* * *

The next four days passed as somewhat of an adventure that although fun, nearly emptied their wallets. The third restaurant that had turtle soup as the special turned out to be the right one, and that's when Himawari noticed the numbers. However it was the morning of the exam and they only had eight of the nine tailed beasts identified.

Naruto was starting to get irritated. Each of the hints so far had led to some sort of food that was associated with a tailed beast, but he had checked all of the restaurants that had anything to do with foxes and nothing. No numbers or other indications anywhere.

"Calm down Naruto-kun. We're going to be fine." Himawari's voice cut through his irritation like a sharp kunai. Glancing over his shoulder at her he realized he had been scowling and quickly gave her a smile. Himawari blushed and looked away. Naruto had been sitting on his pallet reading the guide book over and over in the morning sun and hadn't bothered to put a shirt on. The Hyuuga had been staring at the tanned back ticked with little scars and marred by the large splash of paler scar tissue under his left shoulder blade. Kushina had told her what had happened after he lost consciousness and she had nearly fainted at the time. If she looked closely she could kind of picture where the spear head had to be pushed through, followed by the rest of the shaft and various other splinters. The scar he had on his chest was far worse looking, parts of it were still pink and tender looking after all of this time, but the one on the back was more interesting to her. She bit her lip at the thought that it was probably because she was too embarrassed to stare at his chest for as long as she had been at his back.

"I'm not nervous. I just really want to find that last clue! Who knows what we get if we find them all!" Naruto scooted around and reached for his shirt, a simple green sleeveless one with no symbols on it. Himawari sighed when he pulled it over his head. Giving the neatly organized pile of supplies in front of her one last check over, she packed them into two bags and let Naruto tied two sleeping bags to the bottom of them.

Standing up she hoisted the bag over her shoulder and said, "How long do you think we will be in there for?" The only clue they had for the first test was that they needed to pack rations for a 'few' days. Naruto shrugged and slid his mottled green jacket on. Jiraiya had surprised him with it two days ago and told him to pack away his black and orange jacket somewhere where he never had to see it again. Naruto was horribly offended by the sennin's choice of words.

"Well, whatever. We have to leave now anyway. Is ero-sennin meeting us there or here?" Himawari held the door open for him and said, "He's meeting us there." Naruto nodded and shut the door behind him, locking it and dropping the key off with the receptionist.

* * *

The roads were empty this morning. It was 4:30 am and still dark, but when Naruto had decided to go for a brisk jog a few days ago at this time, the farmers were already heading out to their fields at this time. "Where is everyone?" the blonde said and Himawari put her guard up. "I don't know… Maybe because it's Sunday?" Naruto shrugged and let his hands fall into a more relaxed position. Himawari softly whispered at him to relax and he really tried.

The short walk was uneventful, but when they passed under the arch that was supported by two totems Naruto stopped and barked out a laugh. Himawari nearly jumped out of her skin. Moving in closer to the inky haired girl he stage whispered, "Look, about three feet up from the ground. I bet it's number 9." When she looked, Himawari couldn't help but smile. The totems were all sorts of animals holding each other up, but where Naruto mentioned was an abstract carving of a fox trying to protect his bowl of noodles, rather than support the other animals.

The smile couldn't leave their faces as relief from a week long hunt flooded them. Not even the glares from the taller of the cloud ninja could wipe it from their faces as they both stood back and watched the teams trickle in. By about ten minutes after they arrived the teams stopped arriving and Naruto assessed his competition. He didn't know any of the other Konoha teams, and the rest of the teams seemed fairly normal looking, save the odd scar or hair style. He smiled somewhat arrogantly. Piece of cake. Nothing was going to stand in the way of his promotion.

At 4:45 almost on the dot, ten Jounin appeared in a whirl of leaves and grass. Naruto glared with envy. The oldest looking one stepped forward and raised his hand. The crowd was instantly silent and he cleared his throat.

"Thank you all for attending Kusagakure's very first chuunin exams. As you are aware things are a little different around here, but not to worry, most of it is relatively the same." He paused and looked around to see if anyone looked over anxious. No one did and he continued. "Behind me is a large training area that we only let our Jounins use. It is about 15 kilometres in diameter and is completely flat. The grass averages at about ten feet tall, and if you watch closely-" he picked up a fair sized stone and tossed it over the fence towards the grass. About half a foot above the top of the grass the stone hit a wall of sorts and bounced back with a loud snap of electricity. "It is completely surrounded with an electrical field."

Whispers started to crop up in the crowd but the proctors hand silenced them all again. "The point of this exercise, other than to test your survival skills, is to find these." In his hands he held a large totem, about 4 feet long. "You have to find the individual pieces to put together to form this." He pulled the top totem off to show that they were in pieces. "There are nine. One for each of the tailed beasts, as some of you may have noticed, this was our theme for the first test. I wonder how many of you have passed it." This set the entire crowd into a flurry of whispers and frantic motions.

Another hand made the silence come, albeit more reluctantly this time. The proctor was not finished with the rules and he was looking a little sinister with the power of it. "There is a twist. There is a one tailed totem for each of you, and we have put jutsus on all of the totems that restrict you to one of each kind each, as to prevent hoarding. However as you start looking for the next piece they are going to decrease in number until finally, there are only eight kitsune totems. That is the maximum number of teams that will pass." Naruto could tell most of the crowd wanted to talk but the proctor had his hand up again. Himawari looked incredibly nervous so Naruto reached down and squeezed her hand. She jumped before looking at the confidence on his face and relaxed slightly. She squeezed back and Naruto didn't bother letting go.

"When you assemble all nine of the totems we will come retrieve you. Now, as for the first test, as most of you noticed the cryptograph our kind leader left for you was a clue. There were nine clues to find nine tourist destinations in our wonderful village. When you enter the tents to sign your waivers, the proctors will ask you some questions. For every correct answer you will be given a ten minute head start. For those who have all nine, you will be rewarded with an extra 30 minutes giving you a two hour head start." The proctor smiled and said, "You have 5 days, good luck!"

The crowd exploded with people talking and more than a few mini freak outs. Naruto heard the pair closest to him try to comfort each other over the fact that they didn't even make it to the first clue.

The tents that they had passed coming into the clearing started calling team numbers and Naruto and Himawari didn't have to wait very long before their number was called. Walking into the tent they both signed their waivers along with the proctors signing as a witness.

"Alright, what was the first destination?"

"The tanuki special at Bake Tanuki." Naruto answered. The proctor ticked his board.

"The second?"

"Shikini-chan from the Beckoning Cat." Himawari said, quietly. Another tick.

"The third?"

"The snapping turtle soup at the Pussy-Willow Inn." Another tick.

"The fourth?"

"The monkey's paw on the wall of the Goku family's deli shop." Another tick, accompanied by an impressed look.

"And the fifth?"

"The basashi ice cream from that little stand near the big water fountain, I forget the name of it sorry." Himawari said, her cheeks turning a bit red. Another tick and her cheeks turned redder.

"The sixth?"

"I can't believe you got us to eat slugs. They were gross by the way." Naruto said and Himawari looked slightly green at the gills. "The slug dish at Ken's Diner." The proctor laughed and ticked his board.

"Seven?"

"The zazamushi bowl at that nice little place by The Beckoning Cat, I can't remember the name of this one either." Naruto said. The proctor looked at his sheet for a moment and made a small tick.

"The eighth?"

"The fried tako and beef kabobs at Hachiko Kabob." The guard smiled as he ticked and said,

"And finally, did you find the ninth?" Naruto smiled and said,

"The hardest of them all. Was it the statue of the Kitsune eating udon on the totem? I literally couldn't find anything else in the village." The guard didn't write anything on the board and Himawari felt a small tinge of disappointment rise in her gut. She should have looked harder.

"Alright you guys are done here; go find your gate number. They should be starting the announcements soon." Naruto and Himawari gave a short bow and left to find their gates.

"He didn't write on the board, what if we got it wrong?" Naruto rolled his eyes. "Don't worry, we got it right. Have a little faith in my genius, please." Himawari laughed quietly and they sat in relative silence at their gate. There was a gate for every team and they circled around the tall grass. It vaguely reminded Naruto of the forest of death, and, in retrospect, that's probably where they got the idea. Naruto shuddered. He was glad there wasn't likely to be anything that dangerous in the grass. He hoped. He prayed. The gut wrenching feeling came back and he sighed, this was going to be a long five days.

A voice crackled out over the speakers mounted on the gates. "We have the scores totalled and we will begin with teams that get a ten minute head start…" 14 team numbers were rattled off and Naruto was surprised that so many people only go the first clue. The first two were dead obvious. 6 teams had a 20 minute head start, 1 team had a 30 minute, and no teams had a 40 minute head start. No teams again for a 50 and 60, while another three teams had a 70 minute head start. Himawari perked up. They were listening for their number for 80 minutes. If they didn't hear it that meant they had the 2 hour head start and would probably be the envy of the whole tournament.

"Teams 3 and 18 both have an 80 minute head start." They were team number 4 and Naruto wanted to shout out with joy. "Teams 4, 15, and 23 passed the first test with flying colours and we congratulate you with a two hour head start. Use it wisely. When the clock hits 6 am, the gates will open and the second test will start." Naruto was practically dancing at this point, but they both readied themselves as their watches indicated it was 5:59. They posed ready to spring into action and when the gates buzzed and opened, they both sprinted right into the grass as fast as they could manage and disappeared into the sea of green.

* * *

End Chapter 18

Woo, sorry! Not as long as I would have liked but I'm already working on the next chapter! School is out for the summer and I have so much time! I had forgotten what free time felt like! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favourite my story! If I didn't reply to your review at all I apologize! Some of them I only had time to read and I just forgot about replying later! Sorry! ALSO I will save you the trouble: Basashi ice cream is raw horse meat flavoured iced cream (oh japan you so silly) and zazamushi is a fried river insect medley.


	19. Plunging Into Darkness

Chapter 19 **This chapter has been rewritten. Please reread before moving on to chapter 20!**

* * *

Himawari was thanking the gods that she had stuffed her bag full of allergy medicine. There was no end to the grass. No clearings, no trees, nothing. Just a sea of green swaying in the wind. It was almost peaceful if not for the lurking dangers of who knows what hidden in the organic blades and the seemingly permanent cloud of pollen that was hanging around, drifting down lazily like snow on a windless day.

Their first totem, a small figure of a tanuki with a small but surprisingly detailed leaf on its head was easy to find, as it had been tied at eye level not ten feet into the green sea. The second totem, a perched cat licking its spotted paws while wrapping its two tails around its body was also relatively easy to find. It had been placed on the ground in plain view of the rest of the pile of small totems. However night was falling and the Konoha Duo had yet to locate the third totem.

"Can you use your Byakugan?" Naruto finally asked as he pulled his canteen from the loop on his belt. He had refrained from asking her before, partly out of arrogance, partly from politeness. He really tried not to, but the younger Namikaze couldn't help but underestimate Kusagakure in his mind. It was smaller and had a different military set up because of this. He knew very well that underestimating anything in his profession would get him killed, but he found himself catching himself in the act. It was sobering and made him wonder if ninja from the smaller nations were constantly overestimating 'The Great Five' when they visited them (or attacked them; this was a military).

The Hyuuga girl activated her pearly off-white eyes without a sound and took a good look around. After a few minutes beads of sweat started to form on her cheeks and neck and she finally released the jutsu, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. She slipped her hiteate off and poured a bit of her water on her forehead before rubbing it into her cropped hair. The redness in her cheeks could have been from a number of things, but Naruto assumed it was from straining her bloodline limit so hard it started to be physically exerting.

Himawari glanced at her golden partner and smiled before saying tiredly; "I think I found a bunch of them. There are several groups of cleverly hidden masses of chakra. There must be a few more on the other side of the arena, I think I only saw four other spots." Naruto handed her a bag of trail mix to munch on while they caught their breath. The blonde sat for a moment looking at the slightly swaying stalks of grass.

He took a few pieces from his own bag and said, with his mouth still full of half chewed nuts and raisins, "How do you know those are the totems?" Himawari barely caught what he said, glad she could barely see anything in the failing light without her Byakugan, but was still kind of disgusted. She waited until she was done chewing and swallowed her food to silently make a point before speaking. "The proctor mentioned that they were infused with chakra to prevent them from being taken off of their totems, correct?" Naruto nodded, which Himawari was barely able to make out so she continued, "So after taking a good look at the two totems we have, I'm looking for similar signatures. I don't think this test was designed to be Hyuuga proof."

Naruto laughed and slapped his knee. "Hima-hime, you know you are really smart right?" Himawari blushed so fiercely it would have put a tomato to shame. "Th-th-thanks, Naruto-kun." Naruto grinned loudly and tipped his trail mix bag up to pour the crumbs into his mouth.

Himawari ate the rest of her bag in silence, watching Naruto gaze around in the darkness. She wasn't sure what he was doing, but he'd tell her when he was ready. Naruto was never one for secrets and subtly. If Naruto could hear her thoughts he probably would have felt immensely guilty. Such as it was though, he couldn't so he instead turned to his best friend and said, "We should continue until dawn before breaking for camp. With your eyes we have the advantage. Do you agree?" Himawari nodded before realizing that it was too dark to see, but before she could say anything Naruto clapped his hands together and pulled his pack on. He must have caught a bit of light from the sliver of moon that was just starting to peek through the grass.

* * *

Meanwhile, a solid week's journey away, three young souls battled for their lives against a monster made of sun. No matter what they did they could not strike the monster and it finally fell to the single female of the trio to come up with a plan to save their lives. Time was running out.

* * *

A middle aged man crumpled a piece of parchment in his hand and stroked the chin of his marred face. It seemed that the decisive battles with Iwagakure and Sunagakure were not going to end this petty war as he had previously thought.

The whole continent was at present enjoying an era of peace after the bloody and brutal secret world war that was perhaps the worst kept secret he had ever run into. The man remembered his participation as a fond memory. He was made for war. This peace was nothing but aggravating, but the escalating fighting was getting his blood flowing, this was his place in the world. However not every country was prospering from this era.

Sunagakure and Iwagakure, two villages that were classified as 'great' had always struggled for basics necessities such as food, trade, and in Sunagakure's case, water. The war had not been kind to them. It rubbed salt into their wounds to see Konoha benefit from the fertile soil and river rich country side that the fire country was known for. There were always small groups or single shinobi from other countries poking and prodding at their borders, but lately they were pulling brazen moves. The most recent being the burning and murder of most everyone at a guard posting. Luckily the star shinobi, Namikaze Minato and Jiraiya, a man even he could respect for his battle prowess were already headed there, or those responsible would have gotten away with it.

However there had been a few major clashes between Suna and Iwa that had occurred in middle grounds, such as the one in Amegakure that gave rise to the Densetsu Sannin. The man shook his head. Such a shame that the team didn't last very long, what with Tsunade now drunkenly roaming the country side running from the ghosts of her lover and brother. Still with Jiraiya and Orochimaru still running missions for them, he supposed the loss could be overlooked, for now.

The man was almost surprised that Suna was letting the Iwa shinobi goad them into this so called war. He had always pegged them for being smarter than to pick on someone they couldn't beat. Throwing he crumpled paper into the bin beside his desk; he pulled out his pen and a short scroll and started scribbling something down in a complicated code. He had contacts to write and pre-emptive strikes to prepare.

* * *

Naruto and Himawari had to visit each and every single mound of chakra signatures, but by the end of the second day, with only two hours of sleep for Himawari and none for Naruto, they had yet to find the third totem. Himawari tried to pick up the totem from the pile in front of her; it was a creepy looking monkey thing grabbing its four tails comically, its red tongue and cheeks further adding to the oddness of the sculpture. Her hands reached for it, but about a centimetre away from the monkey they were stopped by an invisible force that felt like it was pulling her hand away via her arm. Her eyes showed her the innumerable strings and complex weaves of the multiple jutsu that was cast to create this effect and only then did Himawari think about how long it must have taken to invent these jutsu. If she looked really closely she could even see traces of the symbols and lettering used in the seals in some of the clearer jutsu.

That was her talent in the Hyuuga clan, and it was why she didn't often get field missions. Not that she saw it as a curse or anything. Her Byakugan was gifted in a different way and she understood that it wasn't anywhere near as good as the fighters of the clan, like Hizashi and his brother, Hiashi. Most of the main branch, or branch members directly from the main branch were gifted fighters, but every clan needed scholars and that's what she intended to be when she was older.

"All right. This is good. We only have two more piles to check before we've seen them all. That means we know where the sanbi is right?" Himawari nodded and said, "Yes. We've already agreed that the Kyuubi was in the centre of the arena because I can't see into the weird fog that's surrounding it and because it's cliché and therefore very likely." Naruto sat down. Himawari could see the fatigue tugging at his electric blue eyes. "How far are we from the last pile?" He said; the Hyuuga could hear the fatigue now too. She still felt guilty that he didn't let her take guard watch. He claimed it was so she could use her Byakugan more without fear of chakra exhaustion, but it didn't lessen the feeling very much.

"It's not far. We can make it in less than half an hour. It's this way." Himawari said as she raised her arm. Naruto nodded and they pushed through the grass. Their faces and arms were already covered in thin welts, but they had become numb to the itching after the first night.

The grass was so thick that the clearing came rather suddenly, causing Naruto to halt and Himawari to smack into his back. He held his hand out and she quieted any protests she had. Something was off about the clearing. Perhaps it was how quiet the area had suddenly gotten; birds and other animals were constantly chatting and chirping. It may have been the slight discrepancy in scents he was picking up, but something was telling him that he had just stepped right into a genjutsu. He struggled internally for a moment. He wanted to tell his partner to activate her eyes as they could see through almost every genjutsu, but they were exposed and mostly likely caught in it. Experience taught him that when it was obvious the victim was aware they were caught, that was when they were attacked.

It almost came to Naruto as a surprise that they were being attacked now of all times. They hadn't run into anyone else in the two days they had been in here so far and he had hoped to keep it that way, not out of fear, but out of avoidance of injury. He had enough serious injuries to last a lifetime thank you very much. This test was more a race than a fight to the death, but as the number of totems decreased, taking out fellow competitors made it easier for one in the long run.

Finally, he took a step out into the clearing, looking as if he was just searching around, but he moved his hand behind him and made the hand sign that Himawari used to activate her eyes against his back. The moon was half full and shining brightly into the clearing and hopefully she saw it. The tiny spike of chakra he had been hoping to feel flared behind him and another larger flare disrupted the genjutsu.

Two younger looking genin from grass looked shocked as their genjutsu suddenly back lashed at them and left them in clear view of the Konoha duo. The pair had been planning on camping at a few of the totem locations and taking out teams to make it easier for themselves. They were ordinarily very good at silent killing and genjutsu, but they had never met someone like Naruto before. The youngest one who cast the genjutsu reacted first and tossed a kunai at Naruto, aiming directly for his neck.

"Naruto-kun!" Himawari said as she flung her own kunai at the boy. Naruto deflected it, and two more tossed by the boy's partner before running through some hand seals and cast a blunt futon jutsu that struck the older boy hard in the gut, knocking the air from his lungs and leaving him a gasping mess on the ground. It was then the boy noticed his partner. Before Naruto's jutsu hit the boy, the kunai from Himawari's desperate throw hit its mark, burying itself handle deep in the younger boy's eye. He slumped back and landed quietly in the edges, noticed a second later by his defeated teammate.

Naruto put the shallow cut on the back of his hand from one of the deflected kunai to his mouth briefly before crossing the clearing and using the butt of his kunai to knock the boy out. He dragged both of them a fair distance from the totems so the older one wouldn't be picked off by other shinobi, and made his way back to Himawari. She was still standing in the same spot; the same look of shock was on her face. She barely noticed him walk up to her, but when he touched her shoulders she looked at him and then turned to her right and threw up. Falling to her knees she threw up again and again until she was dry heaving nothing but bile. Naruto rubbed the small of her back.

"Was this your first kill?" Naruto asked when the girl sat on her haunches. Himawari wiped her mouth and accepted her canteen from Naruto. She shook her head after she rinsed he mouth and said, "No... I've killed, but... It wasn't so... brutal. I heard my blade go right through, Naruto. He was so young; I didn't mean to aim there... refl-flex..." She started to cry into her hands softly and he put his arm around her shoulder.

"It's ok. I guess jyuuken is pretty bloodless, eh?" Himawari nodded and after a few minutes the sobs subsided. She wiped her eyes and looked up. "Ok. Ok, I'm alright. Let's get the totem and find a place to camp. I'm exhausted." Naruto helped her up and the pair disappeared with the newly added sanbi to their ever growing totem into the tall waving grass, their path illuminated by whatever moonlight filtered its way through the tops.

* * *

Morning came and Himawari, although tired from a fitful sleep, felt much better. She silently grieved for the boy she had killed and her dreams reflected it. But she was a ninja, and that's what they did. She knew this when she signed on for the job. Grieving for the boy, even though he was an enemy made her feel human.

Naruto grinned when he saw the girl rise. Her hair was mussed on one side and when she yawned Naruto felt a familiar _pang_ pierce his heart. He spoke quickly before she noticed. "Are we ready to go win this trial?" Himawari gave him a shining smile and activated her eyes, determination showing all over her face.

Thanks to Himawari's wonderful memory, by the end of the third day they had a sizable totem. Eight of nine tailed beasts sat on top of another creating a pole almost four feet long. They had encountered 7 other teams, defeating all, killing none. Three days were gone, and two remained to find and obtain the last totem.

"So you think it's in the centre?" Naruto said after they clicked the oxen-octopus to their totem. The creature looked fierce and reminded him of a man that he had met shortly after little Hinata had been born. He claimed he was a travelling singer and songwriter, but after he sampled his work for Naruto, the blonde wasn't so sure his claims of leaving Kumogakure of his own volition were entirely true. Kyuubi immediately informed him of the Hachibi residing in the man's navel and Naruto subsequently asked him to make himself at home.

Killer Bee stayed in the small ruined village of Konoha for almost a year. He helped Naruto through particularly rough patches dealing with both Hinatas and even helped him with Kyuubi and regulating his erratic chakra. When the jinchuuriki for the Hachibi decided to take his leave he was missed by not just Naruto, but the whole village. Unfortunately Naruto lost track of him after a few weeks and he had never heard from him again. The blonde hoped he found the peace he had been looking for.

Himawari looked towards the centre of the arena, her Byakugan blazing. "The entire area is covered with a haze of chakra. I can't see into it at all." Naruto clenched his jaw. Dangerous, but doable. He could almost feel the softness of a real bed, and the smell of something other than grass and flowers. Maybe even if he was lucky, the taste of delicious, delicious ramen. Naruto's mouth started watering and Himawari was looking at him strange. The blonde let out a blush and felt kind of weird at how their usual positions changed.

They crawled carefully towards the centre. Even up close Himawari couldn't see anything with her Byakugan, there was too much chakra everywhere. It was like trying to see into murky waters. She shook her head at Naruto and he frowned. He hadn't seen any tracks around the area and he couldn't even use his nose. All he could smell was grass and what he assumed was vast amounts of chakra. He guessed it was to keep the final area an even playing ground for those with extra sensory abilities.

"Alright, we'll have to do this the old fashioned way." The pair stayed low to the ground, making next to no noise. Weapons held ready and eyes and ears trained to find the smallest disturbance. This most definitely saved their lives as Naruto heard a quiet whistling noise before pushing his partner to the ground. He felt whatever had been thrown at him graze his shoulder as it whistled by. Before the two had a chance to get to their feet, four ninja were upon them. Both teams were from Kumogakure, one of them was the team that Naruto had occasionally seen around the village.

Jutsu were exchanged in a flurry of motions, the grass around them becoming a mess of scorched, drenched, cut, and trampled blades. A lucky break in an opening of one of the younger ones let Naruto slip in a kunai and slam it against her temple, rendering her unconscious. He caught the girl and ducked as her partner swung at his head and placed her down gently. Her partner let loose a poorly powered katon jutsu that Naruto countered with a blast of air. Powering his fist up with a bit of chakra he rushed the boy and winced as he felt the boy's kunai dig its way into his shoulder. Naruto's fist found its mark in the boy's solar plexus and the boy fell, struggling for consciousness and air.

Spinning he pulled the Kunai out of his shoulder and threw it at the two older pair fighting Himawari. One of them looked like he had all of the tenketsu in his arm closed, judging by the way it swung at his side, and was in the process of having the ones on his chest closed up. Himawari thrust her hand out and slapped the man's temple lightly. He dropped like a rock.

Naruto saw the other Kumo shinobi scramble up from the dirt and raise his arm. His hand held a short stick and he swung it towards Himawari's head before she could even register it. Naruto let the stolen kunai fly and it found its mark in the shinobi's side, causing him to fall and cry out in pain, but not before the stick was broken in half over Himawari's head with a terrible crack.

Naruto shouted and scrambled over to her. She was not unconscious, thankfully. He kicked the now panting Kumo shinobi over towards his partner. He pulled the Kunai out of the shinobi and struck him over the head with the handle of the blade. The wound was small and would crust over soon.

Himawari was lying on her back, holding the spot she had been hit and had her eyes closed. "Are you ok? Here sit up, let me look." Himawari nodded. Green fire lit up around Naruto's hand and he delved into the bleeding cut on her head. As far as he could tell, nothing was broken. He sealed the cut up and healed most of the bruising. "Any pain?" Himawari looked at him about to say something when she gasped.

"Naruto-kun, you're bleeding!" He looked down at his shirt and saw that the puncture was slowly spreading a red stain. He quickly let the healing chakra flow into his wound and felt the pain recede. He couldn't help but feel proud that he had learned some medical jutsu. He wished he had the control for it in his previous life. So many lives could have been saved.

Just as he was finishing with his own wounds, Himawari leaned over and threw up. Wiping her mouth she said, "I think I might have a concussion." Naruto nodded and fished out some painkillers. "I think you just have to sit down for a bit. Tell me if it gets any worse. I'm going to look for the totems. I won't go far." Himawari nodded and drank some water, holding her head.

About ten minutes after Naruto had left to find the totems, Himawari thought she heard a small rustle in the grass so faint she almost didn't catch it. She stood up, probably too fast as the world started to spin and she had to steady herself, and slowly went through the hand signs for her kekkai genkai. Chakra flowed to her eyes and she again saw nothing but the mist of chakra. Pain started to build behind her eyes and she released the chakra. The pressure of the pain lessened, but the pain itself did not. "Naruto-kun!" She called out, starting to get frightened. Her vision was blurry enough that she could no longer see the outlines of her hands when she looked down at them. The edges of her vision started to darken like she was losing consciousness. The Hyuuga heard Naruto's familiar gait nearby picking his way through the grass. By the time he got there he saw Himawari standing, staring at her hands.

"What's wrong? Did you hear someone?" Himawari looked at him, or more she look slightly passed him. When he looked behind him he saw nothing. Tears were started to fall down her cheeks. "I can't see."

* * *

The next hour was taxing on both of the Konoha team. Naruto had to lead Himawari through the grass by hand, and it was slow work. He stopped periodically to scour the area for the last totem; they needed to find it and get out of this area and somewhere they could camp up and figure out what to do. Himawari had tried activating her Byakugan again but it had gone as black as her vision.

The sun was setting, but Naruto wasn't going to stop until he had found the last totem. Briefly he wondered if maybe he was too late, and the nine totems had been found already, but he pushed it out of his mind.

Finally, as the dawn of the fourth day started to creep over the tops of the grass he saw an oddly shaped rock. He pushed it over on a gut feeling and saw 3 smiling totems with 9 bushy tails held up like a fan. He sighed in relief and gave an excited laugh. Himawari stumbled over, having almost gotten used to the blackness during the night.

"I found it! Give me the totem pole!" Himawari reached back and groped until she felt the long pole and untied it. Handing it over to him he quickly slid it into the slot. When nothing happened Naruto grabbed Himawari's hand and led her away. They snuck as quietly as they could out of the misty chakra. As soon as Naruto's foot stepped over the border, the totem started to glow. Naruto didn't notice it until a few minutes later when the glow was intense enough to be seen in the brightening daylight.

"Wait, stop. The totem…" Himawari stopped and turned her head towards him. "What, what?" She said, but Naruto didn't answer. He placed the totem on the ground and pulled Himawari back. "I hope it doesn't blow up, I don't need this…" Naruto said and Himawari would have laughed if it was any other situation.

"What's it doing?" She said, Naruto replied after a moment. "It's glowing, but it's not doing anything else." Himawari sat down and rubbed her eyes. Naruto sat beside her and they watched the totem get steadily brighter. Naruto looped his arm around Himawari's shoulder and she leaned in. She was very frightened. Her entire clan was based around vision and she didn't know what would happen to her if she never got it back. Would she still have to get married? That thought lingered in the back of her mind. Would she?

After about 20 minutes of increasing intensity, it finally got to the point where Naruto felt he had to look away. Not a moment after the totem burst into smoke with a small _pop_. In its place stood a tall Jounin from Kusagakure that he had never seen before. Instantly he was up with his kunai held out and his body protecting Himawari. The girl tried to ask what was happening but the blonde wasn't listening. The Jounin looked at him and then after a tense moment, smiled.

"Congratulations! You have passed the second test! If you grab onto my hand I can transport you out of here." Naruto hesitated, but when the man didn't do anything else, he said as calmly as he could muster, "Please, my teammate needs medical attention. Can you take us to a hospital?" The Jounin nodded and glanced at the girl and held his hand out again. Naruto guided Himawari's hand to his and with a puff of smoke and some whirling pieces of grass, they disappeared.

* * *

Chapter 19 END

Hey so I decided to rewrite the chapter after rereading it and thinking about how it was a piece of crap. I changed a few details around and kept some the same, I hope it's easier to understand now! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, I hope you are able to reread this!


	20. Hormones are Horrible!

Chapter 20

Naruto, Himawari, and the Jounin proctor arrived in what appeared to be the resting camp for finished examinees. Naruto was about to protest the location but he saw the uniform of medic nin standing by and he kept his mouth shut. They moved to him first but he shook his head and pointed at Himawari. She was alert and looked unhurt, but her spaced out gaze was a tad unnerving.

Much to Naruto's surprise, Jiraiya stood in the background watching the pair. Himawari was being questioned over and over by the two medics and Naruto felt that they were capable enough hands.

"What happened?" Jiraiya asked as Naruto approached him. Naruto frowned. "I don't really know. She was hit in the head hard enough to get a concussion I think, and then after a bit she called me over to tell me she couldn't see anymore, not even with the Byakugan." Jiraiya sucked his breath in. A blind Hyuuga was something the family never liked to talk about.

"What will her family say if it's permanent?" Naruto asked slowly. He knew they were strict to the point of being harsh sometimes, but by the time he and Hinata had gotten together her family wasn't something she liked to talk about very much. Jiraiya shook his head indicating he didn't know.

Naruto looked at Himawari who was starting to look a bit annoyed at the hovering medics and said, "What happens now?" Jiraiya looked down at his student and said, "Now we wait. You guys finished a day early so you get a day of rest. They are announcing what is coming next tomorrow. I suggest you rest as much as possible. Later today I've got a surprise for you if the Hyuuga is feeling up to it." Naruto looked at the sennin with a questioning look but Jiraiya refused to meet his eye. Eventually Himawari was taken away to their team room and Naruto was given some basic instructions on how to care for her.

"She's got a concussion, and that is the extent of her injuries physically. The blindness is not something that is unheard of; a good knock on the head can scramble the way our brain works. If she's lucky her vision could return in a few days." The older of the two medics said as they guided Himawari to her unrolled futon. "And if she's unlucky?" Naruto asked, almost wishing he hadn't. The medic shrugged but didn't say anything. He handed Naruto a bottle of pills and said, "Make sure she gets one every 6 hours or so, it will help with the nausea she's likely to have tomorrow morning if not sooner." Naruto nodded and thanked the men as they left.

"How are you feeling, Hima-hime?" He asked when the medics were gone and out of the building. Himawari looked up at him, although her focus was slightly to the left of his head. "Oh I actually feel fine, to be honest. I've had a concussion before and this one is way less severe. They warned me of nausea but I haven't felt any of it. I just, well, I can't see still." Naruto sat down on the end of her futon with his legs crossed.

"Are you able to do anything other than lay here? What did they say?" Himawari shrugged. "I can get up and do whatever I want as long as I don't hit my head again for a good long while. They told me to lay off trying to use the Byakugan for a couple of days though." Himawari picked at her fingernail so Naruto spoke up.

"Well Ero-sennin said he has a surprise for us tonight if you are up to it." The blonde was interrupted by a yawn before continuing. "I'm going to catch a nap though. I haven't slept in two days." Himawari laughed and agreed.

Jiraiya didn't even knock as he burst through the door of their shared room, waking Naruto and Himawari up. Naruto blearily looked around for enemies before he noticed Jiraiya. Putting down his kunai he stretched.

"What the hell Ero-sennin? Ever heard of knocking?" Himawari was rubbing her eyes, but everything was still black. The recently minted sannin ignored Naruto and dropped a bag on the floor. Naruto picked it up and rifled through it. "Yukata?" He said, and passed the bag to Himawari. She pulled out a garment and tried to feel the designs with her fingers. "It's silk too, sensei what are these for?" Jiraiya smiled and said, "We are going to dinner at a fancy restaurant as part of your surprise, if you are feeling ok enough, Himawari-chan." Himawari nodded, blushed, and smiled.

"I hadn't anticipated you being blind however; can you put on a Yukata without your eyes?" Himawari turned a deep red and nodded. "Well, I'm sure Naruto-kun here can help you if you are having trouble." Naruto choked and Jiraiya laughed. "Meet me out front in 30 minutes." "Get out of here you're making it worse!" Naruto yelled at his sensei and pushed the man out of the door. Himawari turned around and buried her face in her hands. They could hear Jiraiya cackling all the way down the building.

Once Jiraiya was gone, Naruto turned to Himawari. "Here I'll get dressed in the bathroom, want me to hand you your yukata the right way up so you don't try to put it on backwards?" Himawari blushed, but more out of embarrassment that she couldn't even put clothes on properly.

"I'd like to take a quick shower first actually. Could I have the bathroom?" Naruto nodded and then realized that he probably needed a shower too. "Hey Hima-hime, are there public bathrooms in this place? I can't remember." Himawari put a finger to her chin and said, "I think on the first floor. Check with the counter lady?" Naruto nodded and grabbed a towel as Himawari felt her way into the bathroom.

Rushing down the stairs of the building, he stopped at the counter and said, "Hey excuse me, are there any public showers or baths or something nearby?" The lady at the counter sighed and pointed down a hall behind her. Naruto thanked her and after finding the bathroom, proceeded to take the quickest shower he has ever had, including all those times as a child when his hot water was cut off.

When he returned to the room, he heard the water still running in the bathroom and took this chance to change quickly. Jiraiya had gotten him a rather nice orange and white yukata. A childish pattern of frogs danced around on it, and it made the blonde smile. He'd have to think of a way to pay the old pervert back.

Naruto was watching people out of the window of their room when Himawari came out of the bathroom. Her hair was still wet and Naruto got a good look at the hooked symbol on her forehead for the first time in a while. Her yukata was a light lavender colour, the same as her eyes, and was decorated with tall cranes embroidered in a darker purple. The sleeves fell almost to her knees. In her hand she was holding the obi wrap which was a dark golden colour.

"Oh wow, it looks like Ero-sennin spent a lot more money on yours than he did mine, ha-ha." Himawari blushed and said, with a bit of struggle, "D-did I put it on right? It's not inside out?" Naruto told her it wasn't and then said, "Did you need help with the obi?" Himawari nodded and gasped when Naruto grabbed it out of her hands. She hadn't realized he was that close.

Naruto slid his hands around her waist to pull the obi around and Himawari struggled to keep her blush down as she lifted her arms. Tying obis is one thing is one thing Sakura and Hinata made him do for them all the time. The simple knot at the back was easy to tie and after only a few seconds, Himawari had a nicely tied obi around her waist. The pair put on the geta sandals that were at the bottom of the bag and made their way down to the front of the building.

Jiraiya showed up after a few minutes donning a simple white Yukata with green and red triangles making the trim. He led them down the street into the higher class restaurant area. Himawari was holding onto Naruto's arm as she tried to take in the sounds and smells of the area. The finally stopped at a small but nice looking restaurant that greeted Jiraiya when he opened the door. The host led them to a small private room with 8 cushions. Himawari took her seat beside Naruto, who took his on the opposite side of the table of where Jiraiya was seated.

"Who are we waiting for?" Naruto finally asked and Jiraiya grinned. "Oh, just some people. No worries they should be here any minute." Naruto frowned and gazed down at Himawari who was squinting while she let her hand roam over the table. Occasionally a calloused finger would bump into condiment setting and she would make a show of memorizing its placement. All Hyuuga females were taught how to act blind for espionage missions that they liked to snatch up, but she herself had never had the chance to use the skills she had learned, and now that she actually was blind she found them coming back to her in bits and parts. It was still frustrating as hell though. The screen door suddenly slid open and she withdrew her hand and looked towards the noise.

"Naruto-nichan! Sensei!" A familiar sounding voice shouted loudly. Something collided with Himawari and she was pushed into Naruto roughly. "Obito! Stop! She's injured!" Naruto glanced up at Minato and smiled widely. Behind Minato, Naruto watched as a young girl with brown hair and purple markings and a young boy with a messy mop of silver hair and a mask covering his face follow his brother into the room, with Kushina slipping in and sliding the door shut with a quiet _whish_.

Naruto stood up and Minato stepped towards him and gave him a man hug, patting his back and exclaiming how much he had grown in the whole 10 days he had been gone from Konoha. Himawari had been enveloped in an apologetic hug from Obito and was vaguely amused at the angry ranting of the girl whose voice she didn't recognize. Jiraiya loudly welcomed Kushina and invited them to sit down.

"So the old man couldn't even wait until I aced this exam before giving you a team, eh?" Minato blushed slightly, but looked proudly at his team. He turned to his brother and said, "Well, he has such faith in you, and there were other circumstances that I will have to inform you of later." Naruto caught the look in his brother's icy blue eyes. Something wasn't right, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Instead he turned to Kushina who was watching the young boy sitting beside Minato quietly. Naruto would have choked at seeing his sensei as a child, but he had seen glimpses of the white haired boy around town with a massive white haired man that Minato had confirmed was his father, Hatake Sakumo. Kakashi's eyes looked bedraggled and he had large bags underneath them. He was staring at his bamboo place mat.

"So Ne-chan, I guess this is the 'emergency mission' you guys had? Where's your team? Or is this a joint effort, maybe?" Kushina glanced at the younger blonde and gave him a foxy grin. He could see sometimes that although he had Minato's colouring, he got most of his features from his mother. It was enough to put either a lump in his throat or make him want to burst with pride. "No, no joint team. The genin I tested did not pass my test. It's a simple as that. They were not nearly ready enough for field work." She lowered her voice and put a hand up to her mouth and said in a stage whisper, "Hokage has been lowering the age that genin can graduate normally. He fears war is on the horizon and we need all the genin we can get. Those that I tested won't even be sent back to the academy; they will go to a sort of boot camp and be drilled in basic militia before being tested again." Naruto leaned back and nodded. They had done almost the exact same thing after the first attack on Konoha, when Tsunade was still in charge.

"So let's introduce ourselves to the newcomers here and then Naruto and Himawari can regale us with the tales of their test, and explain why Himawari is looking a little sick!" Himawari's face turned beet red and looked down. Naruto glared at his brother's girlfriend but she just winked at him. Minato coughed and Obito sat down fully beside Himawari. The girl calmed down beside Obito and Kakashi just sat there like a lump.

Minato pointed at Obito and said, "This is Uchiha Obito, as you know. This lovely little girl is Mumei Rin; she aspires to be a medic and can already perform a basic healing jutsu at the age of 10!" Rin had the decency to look modest as her teacher praised her, while Obito was still beaming. "This here is Hatake Kakashi. He's a chuunin already but requires more team time before he can qualify for Jounin." Kakashi bowed his head a little lower as he was introduced, although it seemed more out of habit than politeness.

Naruto glanced at Rin, wondering if he would have some time to exchange ideas with her and see what she knew. He was still contemplating what to say to her when Obito's voice broke through the low chit-chat. "Sensei, what's wrong with your eyes?" All conversation froze and everyone's stares were directed at Himawari and Obito. Minato and Kushina had noticed something off before, but now when they looked at her they both noticed that she wasn't focussing on anything. Jiraiya sat back and said, "Well, we might as well hear your tales of the second test while we wait for the food."

By the time Naruto had led Himawari back to her room she was utterly exhausted. When she had to retell what had happened to her and what the doctors had said the food had already been eaten and drinks had been served (to the Jounin). All she wanted to do was put on her pyjamas and go to sleep. They still had to attend the closing ceremony and announcement of the third exam tomorrow and she didn't want to appear weakened by her injury. She snuggled into her covers and tried to say a good night to her teammate but fell asleep halfway through, mumbling incoherently.

Naruto smiled when he heard Himawari mumble and drift off, but his face soon turned more serious. His brother was waiting for him at his room he was staying at. Double checking to make sure Himawari had a few weapons within hands reach before he left he was mildly surprised to see more than a few people still roaming the streets at nearly midnight. The rooms his brother was lodging at were all the way across town near where Jiraiya was staying.

Minato's room was on the second floor and was accessible by a balcony so the younger blonde laced his calves with chakra and jumped right up onto the railing without a sound. His descent to the floor and then the door were equally as quiet. He opened the door quietly and promptly slammed it shut in his own face.

In retrospect, Naruto would kick himself for not knocking, but he was so used to living in their tiny apartment that he just didn't even think of it. It only took a split second of seeing Kushina, his future sister-in-law in this universe, and his _mother_ in another time standing not ten feet from him pulling on a pair of pants and other wise wearing only a bra and panties (although the younger blonde was infinitely thankful for that small mercy) before his brain shut down and his body took over slamming the door before the red head could say anything.

In fact, in the minute that passed before the door opened again, all he could hear was laughter from the red head and worried natter from his brother, who he would later find out, had still been buck naked in the bed. He stood dumbfounded with his hand still on the door knob when a red faced Minato opened it. Kushina was sitting on a chair, a terrible grin spread across her face. The bed was neatly made, but when Minato offered for him to sit on it, the younger blonde shook his head wildly and proclaimed his love for standing. Minato turned redder but Kushina mercifully didn't laugh again.

Naruto was horrified. Beyond horrified. Sure he knew that Kushina was a very pretty woman, he was proud that his mother was attractive, but not to him in the slightest. Even thinking about what he just saw as he was supposed to, a brother-brother thing, was just as bad. He briefly wondered if this is what normal families were like. He had heard horror stories like this from Kiba about his sister and even one from Ino about her parents. The thought made him feel closer to them now, despite their being long dead and gone. He shook his head. This was too much.

"What did you want? Just spit it out so I can go home and cry myself to sleep." This statement made Kushina bark a loud laugh drawing his eyes to her. She bit her finger and said in a silky voice, "Oh Naruto-kun, didn't like what you saw?" Then she licked that finger and Minato made some sort of protest but Naruto just turned beet red and tried to ignore her.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun. I had actually wanted a serious discussion here. When we get home there are some serious changes being made and I wanted to discuss them with you first. Are you still up to it or," Minato coughed a bit, "should we wait until tomorrow?" Naruto pursed his lips and crossed his arms. He shook his head and said, "I'm fine. Let's get this over with." Minato nodded and sat down on the bed.

"As you know, I have a new team. However the day after the team was formed something happened. Do you know of Hatake Sakumo?" Naruto nodded and Minato continued. "He took his own life, and to make matters worse, Kakashi found him just as he passed. That's why he looks like such a wreck. Sakumo-san was a single parent and they were very close." Naruto looked shocked. With travelling with Kakashi, and then having to train his elements before saving Gaara and then sage training and fighting Pein, he never really had time to actually talk to Kakashi. Sure they trained together but mostly in silence. He had heard some things, but he had never really given it any thought.

"Man, is he ok? I mean, he's not ok, but is he…?" Minato shook his head. "He's in really bad shape. That's part of why I needed to talk to you. He is selling the house that they lived in and didn't have anywhere to stay, so I offered him a place on your couch while you were gone. It was that or he was going straight to the chuunin barracks. I didn't want him to be alone, he honestly reminded me of you a bit from the few times I met him beforehand. A bit more aloof but the same values." Naruto nodded. "That's fine. But what are we going to do when we get back? I can sleep on the floor I guess, it's no big deal."

Minato glanced at Kushina and said, "Well, here's the thing. That little apartment is getting a bit crowded, and Kushina's place is no better. I had originally thought maybe to give you my room, and Kakashi the couch like we had, but he is worse than I thought. Obito tells me he hasn't slept other than a few hours here and there all while sitting in the corner staring at nothing. I need to be around for him, not just as his sensei, but to evaluate his mental state. You know what I mean." Naruto did in fact know exactly what he meant. Minato was still making reports on his mental health, even two years later. Jiraiya had told him that the reports were less mandatory now and once he reached Chuunin Minato could stop altogether as Chuunin and above had to take a bi-yearly exam anyway.

"So you're saying we are moving then." Naruto looked at Kushina, whose smile was more reserved now, but he could see the corners of her mouth itching to spread across her face. "And she's coming too." Kushina made a kissing motion at him and he felt his cheeks burn again as the image of her partially clad cam unbidden to his mind. Dammit he was nearly 30, not 14! Naruto cursed the god of hormones and grit his teeth.

"Well, yeah. Rent is expensive, and she wouldn't take another bedroom up. Would you be averse to sharing a room with Kakashi? You don't have to if you are really uncomfortable with it, but it would ease my mind a bit." Naruto nodded a bit. "Yea I'm fine with it. That kid's gone through hell, I know a bit of that. I can probably help him." Minato frowned but chose not to say anything.

The older blonde looked at his younger brother before looking pointedly at Kushina. She dropped her smile and rolled her eyes. Naruto ignored both of them. "Am I good to go now? I don't want to leave Himawari undefended for too long." Minato nodded and Naruto turned to leave. He had made it to the railing when a quiet voice called his name. He turned to see Kushina had followed him out and closed the door.

"Look, I'm sorry for teasing you so much there," she grinned wildly, "you're just a lot of fun. No harm right?" Naruto paused. This was probably the best moment he was going to get for a while to ask her this. "Now that you are actually committing to moving in with my brother, I have to ask. Does he know?" Her face went a bit pale, but her expression didn't change.

"Know what?" She said sharply. "Don't play dumb. About your little friend all tucked happily away in your belly." Her poker face faltered and she looked around. Leaning in she whispered, "Who told you? If it was Jiraiya-sensei I'll fucking gut him!" Naruto almost laughed at her anger. He forgot how raunchy she could be. He held his hand out and said, "As much as I would love to watch that, it wasn't him. When you were trying to heal me in that cave and used his chakra, it pulled me into your subconscious, or where ever. We had a bit of a chat, although he seemed like he was struggling to talk. Is it always like that? I did ask Ero-sennin afterwards about it and he told me a whole bunch about Mito-sama, it was very interesting." Kushina looked less alarmed, but definitely more disturbed.

The red head pulled her hair around her shoulders so it was mostly in front of her and fretted for a few seconds. "You're not freaked out?" Naruto made a face. "Pfft please. I was a pariah where I was from before Konoha too. See these?" The blonde pointed at the scars on his face, "Ero-sennin says I might have been born in the area that Kyuubi was when he sealed into you by Mito-sama. Apparently those two brothers that lived in his stomach have the same markings. I'm willing to bet exposure probably killed my mother during childbirth." "Oh Naruto-kun, I'm so sorry…" Naruto shook his head and said, "Don't be. I didn't know her and Ni-san barely remembers her. How did Mito-sama seal you into her belly by the way? I thought it had to be done at birth?" Kushina shook her head and smiled.

"Not tonight. It's a long story and you have other things you need to concentrate now. I'll tell you in Konoha. We'll make it a date." Kushina winked and went back inside, leaving Naruto blushing and trying to force away images. Hormones! Slinking away he was relieved to see that Himawari hadn't even moved in his absence. He changed into his own pyjamas and went to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be exciting.

End Chapter 20

:D


	21. Way to Go Guys That Was Real Smooth

Chapter 21

* * *

Glancing at Minato, who lay snoring softly on the creaky and rather uncomfortable bed, Kushina sighed. She was pacing back and forth in their small room; Naruto's words had shaken her a lot more than she would admit. As a child she had always known that she was to be the one who would be taking the burden of the nine-tailed beast over from her great aunt, as she had been the next child born after Mito with the special chakra that enabled them hold its power back. Kushina had been told by one of her many handlers that her birth was just in time as well, since Mito was nearing 100 years old.

Sitting down in the single chair she rested her head on the back of it and closed her eyes. Pulling herself down into her mind she blinked and was suddenly standing in a white room. The walk to the area where the beast was caged was not a terribly long one, but one she hated to make. Kyuubi was always very violent and loud, and even though she was used to it, she occasionally had to activate her special chakra and tie him down with her chakra chains. While it made him calm down, the hate that glared in his eyes always seemed deeper. The last time she had made this trip she had been covered in blood and crying. Kushina looked at the floor as she walked, and noticed that they were just as pristine white as they had always been. She was silently thankful.

Kyuubi was lying down with his front paws crossed, but his head was held straight and he watched her make her way to the doors of the cage. His calmness was eerie. By now he would have been shouting at her. Something wasn't right.

"**What are you doing here, child?**" He said, his voice booming over her with a bass so deep it rattled the air in her lungs. Kushina stood her ground and put her hands on her hips.

"To be honest, I have no idea. Did you hear that last little bit or should I tell you what happened? I can never be sure how much you can hear in here." Kushina said, frowning. This wasn't the first time he had been calm enough to talk to her like this, but it was still odd enough to put her on her edge. Kyuubi just gazed at her. He wasn't even glaring that much.

He flexed his paws, scraping his claws on the ground with a deafening screech before he replied. "**I heard.**" Kushina didn't say anything waiting for the nine tailed beast to continue. When he didn't she shifted her stance into one that conveyed her annoyance. "Well?" She said, "What did you talk about? I hope you didn't scare him too much, I didn't want to ask. Also, why did you save him? That has been plaguing me since that night. Not that I'm not grateful, but you aren't exactly the most kind and loving creature." Kyuubi snorted and muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like, "It was no wonder I was so angry all the time." But she couldn't be sure so she stayed quiet.

Finally after a minute or so he snorted again and said, "**I said nothing other than introductions. The boy has no fear in him. I gave you some of my chakra because I had detected traces of it in him already and he amused me.**" Kushina was looking sceptical.

"He amused you. The almighty Kyuubi no Yoko." "**Yes.**" Kushina blinked. She let her eyes roam over Kyuubi, taking in his humongous size, the way his claws were tapping gently on the floor, and the way his face looked almost curious instead of distorted in anger. This was probably the longest civilized conversation she had had with him without a single angry shout.

"What's wrong with you?" The redhead blurted out. She almost winced at her tone, thinking for sure that she had just broken this weird mood of his. However she was surprised when not a single hackle was raised, so she corrected herself. "I meant to ask if you were feeling alright. You are not so… calm normally." Kyuubi glanced down at her with disinterest.

A few of his massive tails gave an irritated looking flick and Kyuubi finally said, "**I tire of this conversation. Go now.**" Before Kushina could say anything else, she felt the familiar upward motion of regaining consciousness and when she opened her eyes she was sitting on the bed again. Frowning she cursed slightly. What the hell was wrong with Kyuubi? She'd have to ask Jiraiya tomorrow.

* * *

Himawari was extremely nervous. Naruto had led her down to the small arena where the finalists from the second test were to be told the third task. Naruto assured her it was likely to be a tourney style series of fights, but it didn't quell the ball of nervousness that was eating her alive from the inside. She tried hard to look like she wasn't spacing out so as not to look weak in front of the other competitors, but hanging off Naruto's arm didn't exactly help that image.

The blonde had moved her so she stood beside him where they had been directed and he whispered that he would lead her around if they needed to move and to not be so nervous. A blush crept up to her cheeks at the thought that even Naruto could tell how badly she wanted to remove herself from the situation. Finally she heard a loud voice ring out and the increasing noise from the audience cut itself short.

"Welcome!" The voice shouted. It must have been chakra enhanced as it was so loud it was ringing in her ears. "Welcome to Kusagakure's first chuunin exam! I will now introduce the remaining competitors!" The proctor started listing off names and after the third one Naruto quickly whispered to her. "When they call your name just give a short bow." Himawari nodded quickly, but when her name rung out over the audience she nearly faltered. Her instincts kicked in and she bowed as a polite applause reached her ears.

After the proctor had finished calling the names out, he started describing the next task. Naruto had been right; it was going to be a series of elimination fights. One against one all drawn randomly on the day of the fight. The part of his speech that made the bundle of nerves return was the proctor's announcement that the fights were to take place in one week, to give the competitors some time to rest. The rest of his speech went by as a blur. She hoped Naruto had been listening because she was just trying to concentrate on not throwing up everywhere. Eventually the proctor stopped talking and Naruto started to gently lead her to the edge of the arena.

Naruto glanced at Himawari with a tinge of worry on his face. She looked vaguely green and pale. He knew she was really nervous but this was getting out of hand. He honestly didn't know how to comfort her at all. He led her towards where the newly minted team 7, Kushina, and Jiraiya were waiting amongst the thinning crowd.

When he was within talking distance of them he sent his brother a worried look. Minato frowned. Obito and Rin were bickering quietly beside a silent Kakashi. Kakashi met his eyes and held them silently until Naruto let his eyes flicker towards Jiraiya who also looked concerned, and then to Kushina who looked a little shyer than usual, but still returned a knowing look. Surprisingly it was Himawari who broke the silence.

"I am going to resign if my vision does not come back before week is out." She said. Obito and Rin stopped bickering for a moment and Naruto finally spoke up. "Are you sure? The proctor said that you would be judged on your skills, rather than if you win or lose. All you have to do is give a good show. Hyuuga are trained to act and fight as if they were blind, you'd still have a shot."

Himawari shot him a sharp look, albeit a bit off to the right of his face. In lowered tones she said, "How do you know about that?" Naruto's eyes widened and he sputtered a bit. He glanced at Jiraiya who was frowning again. "U-uh, Ero-sennin told me?" he half-said half-asked in the sannin's direction. Jiraiya didn't even miss a beat. "Yes, I was teaching him how to successfully court young Hyuugas and the topic came up." Naruto turned an equal shade of red as Himawari did. The younger blonde groaned but was thankful for the instant way out of some very difficult questions.

Kushina was never one for this kind of tension so she spoke up quickly. "Well! Yes, Himawari-chan, why don't you and I and maybe Rin-chan here as well, do some shopping? I have never been here before and I'm anxious to spend a bit of money! We can meet the boys for dinner tonight at 5, right boys?" Minato and Naruto nodded and this was close enough for the redhead as she grabbed Himawari's hand and started to drag her away.

* * *

Naruto, Minato, Jiraiya and the two male components of team 7 made their way to a place where they could sit down at a table and eat some food, although only Obito seemed to have any appetite. He and Kakashi sat at a different table a few seats away. Naruto drained his glass of water and set it down gently on the table. "So what happened? The few times I had seen Sakumo-san he and Kakashi seemed pretty happy."

Minato pursed his lips. He glanced at the white haired boy who was just staring at Obito as if the boy was the weirdest thing. Obito didn't mind and was busy chatting away in between bites. Minato shook his head slightly. "I'm not a hundred percent sure what happened, but apparently a few years ago something happened on a mission and he got a lot of flak for it. It's been said that he was battling depression since then." Jiraiya picked up after Minato spoke.

"He was on a vital mission and abandoned it to save his teammates. It messed up some really important information that cost us in the long run. I don't personally know him very well, but I have heard from others that they were disappointed and angry with how he handled the mission. Even his teammates were angry." And now Naruto was angry, but for different reasons. His fist hit the table with a small _thud_ and he said in angry, but hushed tones, "That is ridiculous. Who cares about the stupid mission? Your comrades are always more important."

Minato and Jiraiya both were looking at him a little weirdly. Naruto slid his fist off the table and straightened his face. "What?" He said, sharply. Minato shrugged and Jiraiya said, softly, "It was a really important mission. I can maybe understand some people being angry about it but-" "No! No one had the right to do what they did! Drive a man to take his own life! It's despicable and both of you should be ashamed of yourselves for even thinking that he should have left his teammates, people he was probably good friends with, to just die so he could get some information!" The younger blonde had realized that his voice was a bit louder than the original whisper it had been. He looked over at Kakashi but saw that he wasn't at the table. The front door of the restaurant closed and he saw the reflection of silver hair briefly in it. Obito looked puzzled, and both Minato and Jiraiya looked like Naruto had slapped them. _Good_ he thought. How could they even…? Naruto shook his head and followed the silver haired boy.

* * *

Himawari didn't want to admit it, but just being able to hang out with girls that weren't other Hyuuga was fun! She almost forgot she was supposed to fight someone in a week and would probably have to forfeit and be the laughing stock of the branch family. Thinking of her family reminded her of the looming marriage in her future and she quickly quelled those thoughts as Kushina handed her another dress to try on.

The fun was over as soon as Kushina offhandedly asked her a question while she was pulling the dress (hopefully the right way) on. "So have you told Naruto-kun how you feel yet?" Himawari fumbled with the dress and took time to get it on straight before she answered carefully. "Kushina-san, I have no idea what you are talking about." Kushina just laughed.

"Right. But I didn't ask if you knew what I was talking about, I had asked if you had told him how you felt about him?" Himawari opened the door of the change room, and gave a small twirl. "How does it look?" Kushina put a hand on her chin. "Mmm, not bad, but it wasn't designed for someone with a chest like yours. Here, try on this, and tell me why you are avoiding my question or I'll have to assume that you haven't told him and I might have to do it for you." Himawari snatched the garment out of the redhead's hands clumsily and felt her way back to the dressing room.

She took her time taking the garment off and putting the new one on before she stepped out of the room again. She didn't twirl this time. Kushina clapped her hands. "Oh my, that looks lovely on you. Rin-chan, what do you think?" Rin who had just returned from the book section of the large store sighed happily. "Oh Himawari-san it looks really pretty on you. You should definitely get it!" Himawari's anger melted a bit. She smoothed her hands on the dress. "What colour is it?" She asked. Kushina replied. "It's a creamy yellow colour. It goes with your hair. You know I think you would lovely with long hair. You should think about growing it out."

Himawari turned to go back into the small room when Kushina spoke up again. "I will tell him you know; you don't want to let things like this slip away from you. Life is too short, especially for shinobi." Himawari spun on her heel and said with more sharpness that she had probably ever held in her entire life, "Listen, Kushina-san. Naruto-kun is my teammate and my best friend. He's the only person in my life that has ever listened to me, the only one who has never judged me, or treated me differently because of my clan. The only one who has supported and helped me through difficult situations, and as such I came to love him, as everyone seems to know and apparently can't keep their mouths shut about. He knows. Oh does he know how much I love him, but he also knows that I am in an arranged marriage that could quite possibly come as soon as we get home from this stupid exam."

Tears were glistening in her eyes but her face was too angry to let them fall. Both Rin and Kushina looked stunned at the tone of her voice. Himawari visibly calmed herself and said, "He knows because I am not coward enough to think that he would reject our friendship if he knew of my feelings. He shares his secrets with me as I do with him. I told him myself and he told me that loves me, but as a friend. His closest, he told me, and that is good enough for me. I am not so shallow as to have done anything other than be grateful that our relationship hasn't changed at all. In fact, I think it has strengthened it. I look forward to meeting the girl that will catch his attention and I will wish them both all the love this world is capable of. Now if you don't mind, I am going to pay for this dress and hope one day that I may be able to see it." Himawari disappeared into the changing room and after a few minutes of trying to put her clothes on in the proper order, she stormed out with the dress and felt her way to the counter, paid for the dress, and stumbled out the door.

Kushina and Rin found her standing in the middle of the street with her arms crossed angrily over her chest. She sensed Kushina, rather than heard her in the busy street and said, still lacing her words with ice that was very Hyuuga-like, "If you wouldn't mind, I would like to be taken to my room, please." Kushina half-heartedly agreed and escorted her to the large building that was hosting the chuunin hopefuls. Himawari slammed the door in Kushina's face after curtly thanking the redhead and threw her package against the wall where their bags were stashed. She felt her way to her futon and after laying down on it she started to cry.

* * *

Kushina and Rin were both silent the entire way back to where they were supposed to meet the boys. They were an hour early, but were surprised to see that Minato, Jiraiya, and Obito were already there, looking as lost as she did. "Oh, hey what's up? Why are you guys here so early? Where's Naruto-kun and Kakashi-kun?" Kushina asked. Minato looked sheepish so Jiraiya spoke. "It seems we plucked the wrong hair from his head and we managed to make him say some things that he would have rather not said in front of the Hatake kid. Naruto's off with him and he's probably not going to join us for dinner. Speaking of missing students, where is Himawari-chan?" It was Kushina's turn to look sheepish. "Well the funny thing about it is that I got her so riled up that she screamed at me in front of an entire store and had me escort her back to her rooms. I didn't know she had it in her. I'm almost glad she couldn't see the other people in the store staring at her." Minato's eyebrows rose. "I'm surprised. She's very quiet." Kushina just looked a bit awkward.

"I'll have to apologize to her tomorrow. It sounds like they won't be joining us for food though, so shall we start? I'm so hungry I could eat a horse." Rin and Obito both laughed and Kushina was reminded that mere ten year olds were making genin these days. It was a little saddening. Hopefully these skirmishes with the other countries will stay just that, and not escalate any further. She had seen firsthand what a major war could do to a country and it hadn't been pretty. She was lucky that Uzushio had such a close alliance to Konoha or she'd probably have ended up in another country possibly treated like dirt for what she was. Settling down at the table the redhead tried to decide what to order, but the general feeling of guilt was wracking the adults at the table. Hopefully Himawari would be calm enough for her to apologize to tomorrow. Her thoughts were echoed by the men across the table.

* * *

End Chapter 21

Yep! Right so the new formatting of the site has apparently deleted all of my scene change markers! I hope it works this time!


	22. The Talk

Chapter 22

* * *

Naruto let Kakashi lead him on a half-hearted chase for nearly half an hour before he caught up to the silver haired chuunin. He needed the time to think of what to say and to possibly let the boy cool down if he was angry. Kakashi stopped at one of the benches that lined one of the few parks Kusa had and sat down, joined a minute later by Naruto.

Neither of them said anything at first, but it was Naruto who finally broke the silence. "I'm sorry man. I should have kept my mouth shut back there. It wasn't my place." Kakashi didn't look at him, but he could see the bags under his eyes start to turn red with the effort of holding back tears.

"Sensei thought it would be good for me to leave Konoha so soon after this. You know, as a way to try and heal without being reminded of him everywhere." The boy said, almost surprising Naruto. He actually hadn't said anything in his ear shot this entire trip. The voice, while sounding younger, much younger, still had the tones that his Kakashi used. It brought a sharp pain lancing through his chest. He really missed Kakashi. He missed everyone.

"Is it helping at all?" Naruto asked after the pains had subsided. Kakashi shrugged. "I haven't slept more than a few hours since… it happened. Every time I close my eyes I just see his face." Naruto nodded. He knew what that was like all too well. "I know the feeling." Kakashi didn't look at Naruto but his eyes tightened in anger so Naruto continued.

"No, I really do. Not the exact same feeling, but here, I'll tell you something I've only shared with a few people. Before I came to Konoha, I lived in a little village that treated me like dirt for being poor and an orphan," he was stretching the truth a little bit but his story needed to be stuck to, "I only had a few friends growing up. They were mostly the kids who were rebellious enough to defy their parent's warnings about me. One of my friends was this girl; she was from one of the richest families in town. I always thought that when we grew up, I'd save her from her horrible family and we would get married and it was rather ridiculous thinking back on it actually." Kakashi glanced over and saw that Naruto's face was taking on a dusting of rose.

"Anyway, where we lived it almost never snowed. It was a bit too warm for that. But one year, it did, and the building she was in couldn't take it. It collapsed and crushed her to death. I saw her body when they took her out of the wreckage." Naruto let his voice die. He remembered when they finally dug down deep enough to move the beam that had pinned Hinata's torso down. He had been standing in the snow, still covered in the blood that had been on his newly born daughter. Sakura had long since taken the girl away to see if she could find someone willing to nurse her or locate some formula.

Neji was there with him, his eyes were rimmed with red. He watched the progress with his Byakugan and Naruto was sure that without his warning that she was about to come up he probably would have done more than empty the contents of his stomach in a nearby bush. That image still crops up in nightmares occasionally, but it had been getting a hell of a lot better now that he had the chance to make sure it never happened.

Kakashi was waiting for him to say something but he saw the look in the blonde's eyes. It was almost the same look he saw in his own eyes. Naruto glanced down at Kakashi finally and sighed. "Sorry, I'm probably not the person to be talking to about this. I still see her sometimes. I can tell you this though, you need to mourn. When we get home, take a week or two off of doing anything and use it to wander around, or see a movie you wanted to see, or eat some food you've never tried, or maybe even find a hobby to keep your hands busy. But after that, throw yourself into your inevitable D ranks you will have to do with your new team. They may seem like boring physical labour, but if you try and do them without chakra, or minimal chakra, it will exhaust you so much you'll be too tired to dream. Time is the best medicine for this kind of pain. It will never go away completely, but time will dull the sharpness of it."

The silver haired boy stared dully out at the park. The expression of his father's face as Kakashi slid the door open to the room he was in was what haunted him. The expression of surprise and regret as the last few breaths gurgled out of his mouth danced around in his dreams, silently blaming him for not being a good enough son to prevent his father from doing this to himself. Kakashi shook his head. "I wasn't upset at you. I just didn't want to be around when he was being talked about." The boy finally said after a few minutes.

Naruto nodded. "I don't know what you've heard about your dad, and I've never met him, but the actions of those around him disgust me. Someone I looked up to once told me that 'those who abandon their missions are trash,'" Kakashi looked down at his feet, "'but those who abandon their teammates are even lower than trash.' I think your dad should have been hailed as a hero, or congratulated in the very least." Naruto stood up. The sun was setting and his stomach was rumbling.

"I don't really feel like joining everyone else for dinner, do you want to grab something to eat and come hang out in my room for a while? We don't have to talk or anything, I'm perfectly fine with reading a book or something." Kakashi hesitated, but finally nodded his head. He was still devastated, but for some reason, knowing that there was at least one person in his village who didn't think his dad deserved to die lifted a weight from off of his shoulders. A small weight, but a weight nonetheless. Kakashi stood up and followed the blonde, shoving his hands inside of his pants pocket.

* * *

Himawari was in an uneasy sleep plagued with the very things she was running from. Her face scrunched up in a grimace when she suddenly started to feel a wetness pressing against her cheek. Her dream self at first ignored it, but when it persisted she finally put her hand up to her cheek and realized she was dreaming. She had an instant to take in her surroundings before she suddenly jerked awake. Groaning she rolled onto her back. She hated turning lucid in a dream, it was always an uncomfortable feeling. Putting her hand to her cheek she turned a bit red. A quick feel of her pillow confirmed her fears; her cheek and pillow were covered in drool. Her tongue felt like sandpaper from sleeping with her mouth open. Her main thought as she wiped her cheek was how glad she was that no one was around to see this.

Her next thought was her spectacular timing at getting rid of the evidence as the door to her small room burst open, admitting Naruto and a tired but almost curious looking Kakashi (not that Himawari could see this). Before Naruto could even give her a greeting, the wafting smells of whatever he had brought into the room caressed her smelling receptors and her dry mouth was instantly saturated.

"Oh, Hima-hime, I thought you were out with Ni-san?" Naruto said, holding the door open for the ten year old to saunter through under his arm. Himawari instantly blushed. She felt like she should apologize for raising her voice at Kushina, but her anger was still lingering on the edges of her emotions. Instead she smoothed her hair as best she could and said, "U-uh, no. I kind of had an… altercation with Uzumaki-san. I decided not to join."

Naruto still found it weird when people called out Kushina's surname and didn't expect him to respond. He had gotten more than a few odd looks for it when he had been out and about with the redhead.

The blonde laughed lightly and said, "That's funny, we didn't attend either due to the blatant stupidity of my brother and his sensei." Himawari shifted her attention from the blonde and said, "Oh, I can sense you now. Is it Kakashi-san? Obito would be screaming and Rin-san didn't seem like she'd be the quiet type either." Kakashi nodded, but after she didn't respond to his motion he seemed to fluster for a second before quietly saying, "Uh, yes. Just Kakashi is ok, Hyuuga-sempai."

Himawari laughed softly, startling Kakashi. "Oh I hardly think you should say sempai, you are after all of a higher rank. I should be calling you sempai! I can tell that would make you uncomfortable though, so if you can stick to Himawari I can stick to Kakashi." She gave the boy a winning smile and his cheeks reddened. He nodded again, forgetting she couldn't see before stammering out an acknowledgement. Naruto cut in and handed Himawari one of the boxes of take-out he had brought.

"You are super lucky that I am such a thoughtful guy! I bought extras for us later tonight, but we can just eat it now!" Himawari folded her legs and patted the other end of her futon for Kakashi to sit and eat. She unwrapped her chopsticks and started to eat when she felt the boy sit. Giving a short moan of pleasure she said through a full mouth, "Chow mein with bokchoy! My favourite! Thank you Naruto-kun!" Naruto grinned so wide Himawari could hear it. Kakashi watched their interactions with interest, but what really captured his interest more was that for the first time since his father had died, he was really hungry.

Slipping his mask down to his neck he unwrapped his own chopsticks and started to eat his dinner, piece by piece when he was interrupted by Naruto coughing loudly. Looking up he saw the genin looking at him with a face that was rapidly going from red to purple. Kakashi was about to get up to smack him on the back or something when whatever had lodged itself in his throat dislodged itself and resumed its intended course. Sending the blonde several odd looks, Kakashi sat back down and finished his meal. Naruto managed to say not a single word during the entire meal. A feat in itself especially concerning what his current train of thought was.

When the blonde escorted the mini version of his teacher back to where he was staying with Obito and Rin he finally couldn't keep it in anymore. "Soooo… Why do you wear a mask?" He had nearly died when the one thing he had never been able to do in his previous life just presented itself in front of him with no fuss whatsoever. Kakashi had a remarkably normal looking face. A little baby fat still hung on his jaw, which looked like it would grow up to be fairly handsome, but nothing awe inspiring. He had no scars, no buck teeth, nor were his lips hilariously huge. It was almost disappointing actually. He wished Sakura and Sasuke could have seen this.

Kakashi just shrugged. "My father told me it was actually a tradition of my mother's clan. I've always worn it. I don't remember my mom but my dad told me she was an exceptional ninja." Naruto smiled and pointed at his face. "See these scars? They are the only thing I have left of my mom too. Jiraiya thinks that she might have died when the Kyuubi got out that one time almost 15 years ago when I was born." Kakashi just looked at the faded scars that crossed the blonde's cheeks. He actually had thought the blonde had been playing with a kunai when he was a kid, but this story was much cooler, sadder, but definitely more appealing to a ten year old.

Minato sat on the edge of the bed and twiddled his thumbs. Every few seconds he looked up at the door, hoping someone would knock. Kushina was in the shower presently lathering up her long mane. The older Namikaze bit his lip. He had never seen his brother so angry at him, and he feared that whatever progress he had made with Kakashi had been undone with a few simple words.

Just as he heard Kushina shut the water off with a dull _clunk_ a soft knock sounded on the door. Minato nearly jumped to the ceiling, but he instead opened it swiftly and wasn't disappointed to see his brother. Naruto took a quick look around to make the sure the coast was clear before stepping inside.

"Where's Ne-chan?" Naruto asked, still semi-expecting her to jump out from somewhere to scare him. Minato flicked his eyes towards the bathroom door and said, "She's just finishing a shower, just a second here." He moved to the door and said, "Kushina, Naruto's out here, just warning you." Naruto heard her respond, but couldn't make out the words. Satisfied he wasn't going to be exposed to anything terribly awkward he crossed his arms.

"How is Kakashi?" Minato asked timidly. Naruto's face look unimpressed but he said, "He's fine. I fed him dinner and took him back to his room with Rin and Obito. He's not angry, if that's what you were most worried about." Minato sagged a bit with relief. He ran his hands through his hair, a trait that Naruto had inherited from the man.

Sitting back down on the edge of the bed Minato sighed. "How did you get him to eat? I've been trying to get him to eat something other than a ration bar a day since it happened." Naruto let his hands fall to his sides before he replied. "I talked to him. I know what it's like to lose someone you love, so I told him my story. I also told him to take a week or two off of doing anything when he gets back, are you OK with that?" Minato nodded. "Yea that's fine. I was going to suggest something similar to that."

"I also told him to throw himself into the D-ranks you guys have to suffer through when we get back, so don't be worried if he seems a little obsessed with them." Minato nodded again. He was starting to wonder when his little brother got so wise, but he was strange like this sometimes and Minato didn't question it.

Naruto clicked his tongue. "How could you even think like that? Like, honestly! How could you think that a mission where everyone dies but the objective was completed would be a successful one?" Minato looked down and shrugged. "I don't know, Naruto-kun. Sacrifices have to be made sometimes, and from what Jiraiya told me about it when you left was that it was a very vital mission…"

"No! It doesn't matter! Even if it gets set back a month, a year, even five years, a mission is _always_ redo-able! Lives are not! It's true, sometimes a sacrifice is needed, I will admit that, but let's be honest. From what you know of the nature of the mission, would sacrificing an entire squad of elite Jounin really have been worth it?" Minato looked down again and said, "No I suppose not. Heh, when did you get so wise, you're starting to sound like an old man." The older blonde looked up in time to see a strange look flutter across his brother's face but Naruto only said, "You need to become even wiser if you're going to be Hokage."

Minato's eyes widened. "What, what are you talking about?" Naruto rolled his eyes. "Oh get real; everyone knows that the old man has been talking of retiring in the next few years and of all the potential candidates you are very near the top." A voice intruded in the conversation. "It's true you know. Like any competent ninja in the village knows. Bets have been placed in some places I hear." Kushina would never let the blonde know that she herself had placed almost her entire last pay check on him making it before 30. The redhead turned towards Naruto and bowed her head slightly, which was returned by the blonde.

"Damn, that wasn't really supposed to get out. I don't think I will be anyway, Orochimaru-sensei has way more of an interest in it anyway." Naruto grit his teeth but didn't say anything. He knew next to nothing of what the snake sannin had done before he had met him in his last life other than be the creepy teammate of Jiraiya and Tsunade. He was still a widely respected figure in Konoha and that didn't look like it was about to change anytime soon.

"Why do you always look like that when he is mentioned?" Minato said and Naruto cursed internally. He thought he had been more subtle about it this time. He shrugged and said, "I don't like him. He creeps the shit out of me and I don't think he has anyone's interest but his own at heart." "You've met him once." Minato refuted. "Yea and he was that creepy. Don't even try to argue this with me you know where it leads to." Screaming fights and slammed doors, that's where it leads to.

"Anyway, I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is the second to last day before the fights and I'm going to run Himawari through her katas so we are both ready for it." Kushina inclined her head again and Naruto left before Minato had the chance to protest. Sitting down beside him, Kushina slipped her arm around his waist.

Minato put his arm around her shoulder and she said lightly, "Your brother is wise beyond his years when he wants to be. You really should be proud, he reminds me of you a lot." Minato raised his brows and said, "You know, he actually reminds me a bit of you. You and Jiraiya. You sure you're not cheating on me and Naruto is like some weird offspring that looks like me?" Kushina responded with a sharp pinch and Minato half yelped half laughed.

* * *

End Chapter 22

The beginnings of the fights are happening next chapter! Look forward to it!


	23. When an Author Gets Terribly Embarrassed

Chapter 23

* * *

Himawari slapped away Naruto's hand as it sped towards her torso. In retaliation she pushed her own hand in the direction she was sure it had come from, but met nothing but hair. A small part of her wanted to give up here and now. Putting her hands up in the sign for 'time out' she let them fall to her knees and tried to catch her breath. Both teenagers were covered in sweat and relatively red-faced. Himawari was more so than Naruto.

"That was really good!" Naruto started, but Himawari shook her head. "It's useless. It will take me years to relearn everything without sight. I'm going to resign tomorrow." The inky haired girl said, still struggling to catch her breath. Naruto frowned but didn't say anything.

"Do you still want to spar or should we break for food?" The blonde glanced at the sun. It was just starting to rise over the trees, casting a pleasant golden hue over everything. He wished his partner could see it. Himawari wiped her forehead and said, "I'm pretty hungry actually. Dango?" Naruto smiled and agreed verbally, almost forgetting she couldn't see him nodding with enthusiasm. As much as he would love ramen, he was in the mood for something sticky and sweet.

The streets were empty save for the few ninja here and there either already eating at the early places, or patiently waiting for some of the slower places to open. Each of them nodded at Naruto and Himawari and he returned the nods as he saw them. The pair were not wearing their hiteate and Naruto found that while they were still treated as outsiders, the anonymity of just being a plain old shinobi among other shinobi was refreshing.

Indigo hair flashing in the light of the sun, Naruto watched as the Hyuuga made a few rather adorable faces as she took in the sounds and smells of the morning. When he slightly pulled on her arm to direct her to one of the many places he had marked in the guide book they were given as part of the first test Himawari closed her eyes and let herself be guided in.

Naruto moved the curtains with his hands without thinking and stooped slightly to get through the doorway. He would later apologize to Himawari for not thinking, but she would always brush him off. It had been the best injury she had ever had. Naruto turned to look and make sure Himawari had gotten through the door ok, but he had completely forgotten to tell her to duck.

_SMACK_! Himawari let out a yelp as her forehead collided with the doorframe. Naruto apologized quickly and pulled her down onto one of the stools. He pulled her hand away from her head and was horrified to see blood running down her face. Grabbing a few of the napkins set out on the counter and pressed them against Himawari's forehead, ignoring her complaints. After a few moments he eased on the pressure and peeled back the napkins to see if he could possibly fix the damage himself or if she needed stitches.

The gash was short, about a centimetre long, but a little deep. Naruto sighed in relief. This was totally something up his alley! Nothing like learning medical jutsu so he could totally help his friends out in times of need! A few other people in Naruto's life, Kushina in particular, would be constantly ragging on Naruto, teasing that he deliberately would let his friends and teammates be injured just so he could show off his skills. Naruto always argued against this, but he had caught himself thinking about it a few times. It just felt so wonderful to be able to have the power to save someone's life!

The blonde's hand lit up in green and after only a few minutes of some pretty intense concentration, the gash was completely sealed up and the Hyuuga complained no more of any pain. By now the restaurant owner had handed him a wet towel, and both of the Chuunin hopefuls had ordered breakfast. Himawari snatched the towel from Naruto's hand and scrubbed at her face.

She heard the dango being placed on the counter for them before she smelled it, and her stomach gave a loud growl. Glancing in the general direction of the dango she realized she was so hungry she was starting to hallucinate what the dish must look like. It wasn't until she reached out for the dish that she saw a very fuzzy skin-coloured object move into her peripheral vision that she nearly shouted in alarm.

Naruto had his kunai out before she could blink, but he was still shoving the last piece of dango into his mouth. "Wha? Whaf wong?" He said, relaxing the blade slightly. Himawari looked to her left and saw Naruto in all of his yellow glory. Her mind quickly compared the quality of what she was seeing with trying to look through a foggy window. Colours and shapes were a go, but detail was something she couldn't make out just yet. Still, tears were springing to her eyes. Maybe she wouldn't be ousted from the family after all!

"I can see!" She exclaimed. Naruto nearly dropped the knife, but instead stashed it away from sight where it came from. "What!" he said after he swallowed his food. "Yes! It's all fuzzy, like looking through a misty window but I can see!" She looked down at her dish and picked it up with next to no fumbling. Her depth perception was a tad off, but she hoped that her vision would get better as the days went by. Naruto enveloped her in a hug which she gratefully returned.

"That's awesome! Does your Byakugan work?" The blonde said, practically beaming. Himawari pulled away from the muscular body of her partner with a tiny blush, but to be perfectly honest she didn't even care at the moment. She wasn't blind! Throwing her fingers up she pushed a bit of chakra into the veins beside her eyes, causing them to bulge up under her skin. Naruto always thought it made the members of the Hyuuga clan look extremely angry, scary, or a combination of both. Himawari was no exception.

"Y-yes! Kind of! I can see flashes of blue in your chakra system, but the Byakugan is mostly black and white except for chakra. I can't really see any details." Himawari released the technique with a grin. She felt like jumping for joy! "Should we go back and tell the others after we finish eating? We might want to get you checked out to make sure everything is healing properly since you did just hit your head again…" Naruto said, feeling slightly guilty. Himawari glanced at him, almost directly into his eyes this time, and nodded with a grin. She stuffed the first piece of Dango into her mouth and wiped off a bit of the sauce from her lip.

* * *

The sun was fully up by the time they finished their snacks, but the sky and clouds still had the pleasant colours of dawn still lingering in them. A few more people were out, but it was still mostly shinobi. Each of them still giving him and Himawari nods as they strode past. Just when he thought they would make it to Jiraiya's apartments a clear voice rang out in the morning air.

"Himawari-chan! Is that you?" Both Himawari and Naruto spun. Two figures with long dark hair made their way to the pair. Himawari squinted at them with a worried looking expression. She recognized the voice, she really hoped it was not who she thought it was. When they got closer and were just a tad clearer than blobs of dark brown and cream she had to put more effort into keeping her gasp to herself that she would have liked to admit. Dipping low at her waist she stared at the ground. _What was he doing here_?

Naruto was struggling to place the faces of the two men that stood before them. They had almost the exact same faces, being twins, which is what started the gears in his head. What had also struck him was that they were both Hyuuga, and at least one of them was main branch. He couldn't tell if the one with the bandage on his head was just injured or covering a branch seal. He saw Himawari bend at the waist, and he saw the look of approval pass over the brother with the clear forehead. The other brother had no expression. The main branch member looked at Naruto as if expecting him to bow, but the blonde just slightly inclined his head in acknowledgement. Neither twin reacted.

"You may rise." The colder looking twin finally said. Himawari rose and held her hands straight at her sides. She met the bandaged brother's eyes with a small smile. He in turn made a weird looking face before throwing his arms out and pulling her into an embrace.

"Oh I'm so excited for you, my dear favourite cousin! The finals! Even ole' stick-in-the-mud here is happy for you, even if his face is made of stone." The bandaged brother nudged his twin who just grunted and looked away. If Naruto had looked closely he would have noticed the tiniest reddening of his ears. Himawari pushed away slightly and said, "Thank you, Hizashi-ni, and thank you for coming to see me fight, Hiashi-sama." She said with another small bow of her head and a small but genuine smile. Naruto blanched. This man standing in front of him was Hinata's father. Glancing at Himawari worriedly he tried to say something but it got stuck in his throat. Himawari noticed and turned to him.

Clearing her own throat she said, "Oh, how rude of me! Naruto-kun this is Hyuuga Hizashi, a dear friend of mine, and his older brother Hiashi-sama. Hiashi-sama is the heir to my clan." She glanced at him and paused before saying with as much confidence as she could, "He is my future husband." The colour drained from his face enough that Hizashi was sending him a weird look. "U-uh, nice to uh, meet you both. Um, Himawari, is it ok if I meet you at sensei's place? I just remembered I had something really important to ask him. Do you remember how to get there?"

Himawari was almost taken back by the formality he had used in his tone and the honourifics he chose to use. She nodded slowly and he spun on his heel and took off down the street at a brisk pace. Himawari watched him until his blurry figure turned the corner and felt a small pool of apprehension rise in her stomach. "Whoa he was in a hurry. Do I have something on my face?" Hizashi said, giving her a silly little smile. Himawari couldn't help but laugh. She was closer to Hizashi than anyone else in the clan.

"So have you had breakfast yet? Me and Ni-san here are starving!" the younger twin finally said after a few tense seconds. "Um, yes but I could go for more food. I'm r-recovering from an injury and today is the first day that it finally looked like it was going to be OK, so I'm in a bit of a celebratory mood." Hizashi made a face, and even Hiashi showed an interest in what she had to say. Himawari had known the twins all of her life, but her shyness had led to only Hizashi, who was a lot more carefree than his elder brother to ever talk to her. Hiashi was little more than a stranger. "Oh well you'll have to tell us all about it! Here look, this place looks good!" Hizashi herded the two other Hyuuga into the restaurant. She glanced over her shoulder once more hoping to see a blob of yellow, but saw nothing of the sort. Sighing slightly, she wished he was here for moral support.

* * *

Naruto all but broke down Jiraiya's door. The sennin was sprawled out on his back, the covers of his bed twisted around his legs, snoring loudly. Naruto moved to wake him up, but he stopped. Maybe he should think about his situation before he did anything. Jiraiya had a kitchenette and a sofa in his room, so he put on a kettle of water for tea and sat himself down on the small sofa.

Himawari was Hinata's mother. Naruto shook his head and ran his hands through his hair. He felt bad that he just took off on her like that, but he had panicked. Oh man oh man. Himawari was his best friend, and he knew of her feelings for him, as she had been brave enough to tell him of them a few months ago. That's when they shared that single kiss too. Naruto moved his hands to his face. Everything just got a thousand times more complicated. She was his mother-in-law in another universe and everything seemed so wrong now.

The whistle on the kettle started to blow and Naruto pushed all thoughts away for the moment. As he rifled through the cupboards for a tea bag a sleepy voice made its way over to him. "What're you doin' here so early?" The blonde glanced up and saw Jiraiya sitting on the edge of his bed rubbing his eyes. "Making tea for us. I need to talk to you about some stuff." Jiraiya glanced at him and sighed. "Second cupboard to the right of where you are." He said. Naruto opened the mentioned cupboard and pulled out the tin of tea bags. He pulled out a bag of green tea and a bag of black tea. Naruto found green tea to be too bitter for his tastes if he could help it.

Handing the mug to his teacher the white haired man blew on it before lifting it to his mouth and draining nearly half of it. Years of drinking hot sake had made his mouth impervious to hot beverage burns. The blonde however, had to drink it in small sips. He rarely drank tea and usually only brought it out when he needed to seriously think about something.

Jiraiya yawned and said, still sounding sleepy, "What can I do for you?" Naruto kept his gaze to his mug when he said, "Himawari is getting married to Hyuuga Hiashi." Jiraiya sucked his breath in. "How do you know this?" The blonde tightened his grip on the mug. "We were on our way here actually. Himawari hit her head again and knocked a bit of vision back into her eyes. But we ran into Hiashi and his brother Hizashi. Himawari introduced us. I panicked and left her with them." Jiraiya sent him a disapproving look but Naruto was still in semi-panic mode.

Jiraiya finished his tea and set his mug down. "Ok, you knew she was getting married. What's the problem? He's more high class than you expected?" Naruto tried to take another sip of his tea but it was still too hot. "Hiashi is Hinata's father. That makes Himawari her mother." He turned to Jiraiya who had to take a second to dredge up that Naruto was speaking about his past life. Not something that was easily coerced out of the blonde. Months ago when Naruto had unloaded on the sennin, the blonde had told him almost everything, but neglected to tell him names, other than a few given names, and no clan names other than the two Hinatas.

"Oh that's a bit different. Are you sure?" Naruto nodded grimly. "Didn't you guys like make out a while back too? Ha-ha this is awkward. She's like your mother-in-law." Naruto turned a dark red. He sputtered out, "We didn't make out! She just kissed me once to thank me!" Jiraiya pushed his lips out into a duck face and nodded with that look of 'sure, whatever you say' written all over his face. Naruto grit his teeth but didn't say anything. "Well what's the problem? You are her best friend, is this going to change anything? Did you just remember that she treated you like crap in your former life like most people did?" This was a slightly sore point for Jiraiya. Naruto had let on that he himself didn't know Jiraiya was his godfather until he was 13 and seriously injured, and that Sarutobi had all but let him live by himself for most of his life. He was going to make sure to be around this time. Especially if the Naruto that was going to be born in a few years' time was going to be anything like this one.

Naruto shook his head. "She died. Hinata told me she died when her younger sister was born. Himawari contracted some kind of illness towards the end of her pregnancy and died during childbirth. Hinata said that that was when her father turned into the huge asshole I remember him being." Jiraiya sucked in his breath. "And she wasn't able to be helped by medicine?" Naruto tightened his fists. "Hinata said that they tried to contact Tsunade-baa but she was still running away from her debt problem." Jiraiya sucked his breath in. That was partially his fault then. He had basically told Tsunade last time that they met that she could do just that as long as she continued to do some sort of research for Konoha's hospital.

"How long did she run like that for? Tsunade-hime, I mean." Jiraiya finally asked. "We," Naruto motioned both of them, "finally convinced her to come back for good when I was 13. I almost died to cure her of her hemophobia (**A/N** I'm so embarrassed! Sorry to all those who caught it!)." Jiraiya didn't say anything at first, but a lot was running through his mind. So far, he had thought that he and Orochimaru were the only ones she had confided into about her newfound hemophobia. Maybe her little apprentice she just meandered off with as well. Maybe he would have to think about tightening his reins on the slug princess, just a little bit.

Jiraiya reached over to his nightstand and pulled out a casual looking outfit. As he put it on, he started talking, interrupted occasionally by clothes being pulled over his mouth. "Listen, its fine. I don't think she's the kind of girl to just dump her best friend after she gets married. She might not be able to go on as many missions, or train with you as often, but I really doubt anything will change about her. Trust her." Naruto was still nursing his mug of tea, but he looked a lot less worried.

"How do you know?" Naruto asked with genuine interest. Jiraiya sighed. "It's a little different but mostly the same for me. My teammates, although we fought a lot when we first formed, we are very close in my opinion." Jiraiya ignored Naruto's face. He knew that the blonde didn't have a very high opinion of Orochimaru, although he didn't know why just yet. "I thought I had almost had Tsunade willing enough to start dating me when Dan stepped into the picture. Tsunade was an excellent drinking partner, and when I had heard that the two were planning on getting married I was really sad and worried that I would lose her as a friend." Naruto looked captivated. Tsunade didn't like to talk about her life to him very much. He had no idea that any of this had happened. "Did you?" Naruto asked. Jiraiya smirked.

Sitting back down on the bed, now fully clothed, he said, "No. She stayed my drinking partner on the grounds that I didn't hit on her as much." Naruto gave a chuckle. "I was fine with that. I didn't much like Dan at first, but he was a good man." The blonde knew that tone very well. "And yea, so I don't think Himawari will change very much." The older man finished lamely.

"Is he dead?" Naruto asked, unable to let the topic drop. "Yes." Jiraiya answered. When Naruto didn't say anything else, but kept up his look of curiosity the frog sennin sighed. "Do you know where I was during your recovery period there?" Naruto shook his head. "I was out fighting the first few serious battles in what the old man is thinking is going to turn to war soon if we aren't careful. Konoha's prosperity in peace is really pissing some countries off. Anyway, it was only about two weeks after you woke up, me, Tsunade-him, and Orochimaru responded to a distress call of sorts from Amegakure. Turns out it was a trap and the leader of Amegakure, Hanzo, and his force slaughtered almost everyone in our squad. It was a long and hard battle, but in the end we won and Hanzo was the only survivor. He named us the Legendary Sannin and fled." Naruto could hear the pride in his voice when he said that. "But don't go around telling that to people. We are still trying to keep it quiet for a few more months, to give Tsunade-him some time…" Jiraiya frowned. "Dan died in that attack. He bled out despite Tsunade's best efforts to save him. That's where she developed the hemophobia. I decided it would be in her best interest to leave Konoha for a while and heal herself. But now you're saying that she never comes back? I'll have to change that."

Naruto had wondered where she had developed the fear, but after she was cured it never came up again and he had pushed it out of his thoughts. "What did you do after that? You didn't get back until right before we left. What tied you up for six months?" Naruto said; Jiraiya pursed his lips. "Maybe another day." He said and Naruto pouted. "I, however have a question for you, dear boy. How did I die?" Naruto paled.

The blonde stammered out a reply, "W-what?" Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "You said when you first woke up that someone named 'Pein' killed me." Naruto gulped. "It's fine, I am a ninja and we face death every day. I'm not going to be offended." Naruto gripped his mug even tighter.

He didn't say anything for a few long moments, but just when Jiraiya was about to speak again he said, "Your official cause of death was drowning." Jiraiya narrowed his eyes. As if he would drown. "What was the real cause?" Naruto glanced at him. "Technically, you did drown. You were defeated in battle and they tossed your dying body in a lake." Jiraiya opened his mouth to ask more questions but Naruto interrupted him. "Please, it was one of the worst days of my life." Jiraiya snapped his jaw shut, but he couldn't keep it closed for long. "How old were you?" he said. "I was almost 16. It happened right before Konoha was blown up." Jiraiya sighed. If everything went the exact same way he still had at least 16 or 17 years left on this earth if Kushina announced tomorrow that she was pregnant. Not a pleasant thought, but a calculating one.

The white haired man placed a large hand on Naruto's shoulder and said, "Listen, I realize this conversation has turned grim, so let's go out and find your partner. I promise you she's not the kind of girl to turn her back on a friend so you have nothing to worry about at all. Got it?" Naruto nodded and let Jiraiya lead him out of the apartment.

* * *

End Chapter 23

**EDIT: **Oh my god I am so embarrassed you guys. My face is terribly red right now. My word program kept auto-correcting hemophobia and I thought I had caught them all. I didn't even see it when I read through it again! Sorry if I cause any offense, and I guess laugh on if I made any one laugh from this. :P

Whoops, sorry I tried to get a bit of background in there! Fights next chapter, I promise I can't stall any longer! I am also going to ask for some creative leeway here. I've read and read and read the backstories of all the characters I'm using and since they don't provide dates or anything I'm kind of trying to fit what I want to use in as best as I can. So if it seems weird to you, sorry. Naruto's presence can change things to make them occur faster or slower though! Let's think of it that way!


	24. Round One

Chapter 24

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There were still a few hours before noon, but members of the audience were already starting to feel the heat that the day promised to bring. The crowd was modest, a hundred people-maybe a hundred and fifty, and they were all seated in the bleachers that circled an arena that had been dug out in the ground. The arena wasn't as large or as spectacular as Konoha's arena, but it was similarly built. It was mostly wood rather than concrete and the actual pit where the fighting happened was only sunk down about ten feet. Chain link fence surrounded the pit to protect the audience. Inside the arena there was a single tree that looked like it had seen better days, and underneath the tree there was a small pond. The pond was under a foot deep, but at the moment a pair of ducks were swimming contently in it, unaware of the hustle and bustle that was about to come their way.

The competitors had their own small waiting area on the opposite side of where the audience sat, and in between the competitors and the audience sat a small shack with thick glass windows instead of chain link fence. In this shack sat Jiraiya and the other judges. The leader of the shinobi forces in Kusa, a man nearing his fifties with a menacing scar running down the side of his face was seated to Jiraiya's right, and to his left sat a woman who appeared to be Jiraiya's own age. She had short brown hair and a severe look. The look didn't stop Jiraiya from trying to chat her up and he was pleasantly surprised to find that she was a good conversationalist. He gleaned that she was a friend of the leader of Kusa and a prominent shinobi from Kirigakure.

Jiraiya's attention shifted from the woman to the line of genin that were filing out into the arena. The audience raised a loud applause and Jiraiya saw more than one onlooker wave a bottle of chilled sake or a fistful of cash. Events like these were always such a good place to gamble. Too bad he was a judge and was therefore not allowed to participate in the gambling. Officially. Jiraiya rubbed his hands together. The judges themselves had bet on their own students down to the exact rounds they would make it to and how they won or lost each round.

* * *

Naruto was pumped. He loved showing off. He hadn't had much of a chance to full on fight since he got out of the hospital. Most of the time was spent retraining with Minato and working on jutsu and other techniques with the older blonde. Kushina even started to show him something about sealing techniques after he showed her what little he knew from his previous life.

Himawari on the other hand was incredibly nervous. After she had breakfast with the twins the previous day, Jiraiya and an embarrassed looking Naruto showed up. They took her to the medical tent stationed near the arena and had her eyes looked at. The medic confirmed that whatever had been putting pressure on the vision centre of her brain had lessened. The medic applied a healing chakra to her head for almost ten minutes before telling her that time would heal the rest and she should slowly start to go back to normal, or almost normal. Whatever the medic had done had certainly sped up the healing process because upon waking up at the crack of dawn she was able to see almost a hundred feet before objects started to get so blurry she couldn't see their outlines anymore. Confidence enabled her to walk out into the arena, but she was still extremely nervous. Public fights just weren't her thing.

Naruto scanned the audience and saw his brother and his troupe waving and cheering. He gave them a small wave and a large smile as he lined up beside Himawari. The Hyuuga looked slightly sick so he reached out and discreetly squeezed her hand. Himawari looked up at him and he said, "It's gonna be fine. You're gonna do awesome and your family will be proud. I'll be proud no matter what." Himawari blushed and smiled, but didn't look away. "Thanks," she said, "I really appreciate it. Good luck!" she managed the last part just as the proctor started speaking, cutting all conversation short.

"Welcome!" the proctor said, his voice booming with some sort of jutsu. The arena went quiet save for a few whispers from the audience. "Thank you all for attending the first ever chuunin exam in Kusagakure!" The crowd clapped loudly and several hoots and hollers came from the Kusa members. "And now, without any further delay let's get down to it!" The proctor swung his arm around to a large board that reminded Naruto of an older and smaller version of the light board that displayed names during his first chuunin exam.

A man standing underneath it in the standard chuunin uniform from Kusa flashed through a few hand seals before slapping his hands down on the board. Naruto watched as a name appeared after a few moments, followed by another name. The first name was apparently owned by a large looking teenager from Kusagakure. He was yelling and had his arms raised. The second name dropped a ball of ice into his stomach. Looking beside him he saw Himawari was shaking.

"It's gonna be fine, Hima-hime. Look at him! He looks like he's all muscle and no brains." Himawari nodded but didn't say anything. Her opponent was glancing around for her and gave her a short nod when she met and held his eye contact. _At least he is polite_… The Hyuuga let flit across her mind as the rest of the competitors filed off the arena floor. Naruto gave her a wide smile and a gaudy wink, causing her to put on a small smile.

Facing her opponent she saw he was sizing her up and she realized she was doing the same. He was at least 6 feet tall and was very broad in the shoulders. He had long hair, but it was pulled back into a rough looking braid. On his forehead he wore the Kusagakure hiteate and his clothing looked suited to hiding in tall stalks of grass. He had no other weapons other than whatever he was hiding in his leg pouch, but Himawari noticed the callouses and scars on his fists, telling her that he was probably a taijutsu user primarily. Lucky for her. They tended to underestimate her the most.

The proctor motioned for them to bow to each other, the standard Shinobi tradition before an official fight. The proctor held out his arm and let it drop after briefly glancing at both fighters. As soon as his arm was dropped Himawari sprang forwards, her right arm extended and her fingers already full of chakra.

The Kusa ninja grabbed her wrist and pulled it down to his right side, twisting her body in the process so her back was facing his stomach. Briefly letting go of her wrist he swung his arm under her arms and locked her back against his stomach. Himawari heard him attempt to undo the latch on his leg pouch so she struggled until he had to abandon what he was doing to reposition his grip.

When the Kusa ninja finished adjusting his grip Himawari turned bright red. If she had been able to see his face she would have saw that after he realized that he wasn't grabbing her shoulder anymore he turned a bright red too. She recovered from this slip of the hand first and made her move.

Up in the audience Hizashi stifled a giggle. He glanced over at his brother just in time to see him snap two chunks of wood off the edge of the bench they were sitting on, one in each hand. Hiashi's face was intense but held no discernable emotions. Hizashi sighed and turned back to the fight.

Himawari charged her right foot and brought it down as hard as she could on the Kusa ninja's shin. He shouted in pain as she felt the bone crack and the pressure of his arm across her chest loosened for a second. A second was all it took and Himawari dropped down out of his grip and spun on her heel. It only took her a moment to catch her balance but it was enough time for the ninja to put his hand up to signify a break. This caught Himawari off guard but a quick glance at the proctor told her that she could go ahead and attack anyway. She moved to attack but was interrupted by the Kusa ninja starting to speak.

The Kusa ninja spoke in tones quiet enough that only she could hear and said, with a rather arrogant undertone and large smug smile, "Hey wow, you have magnificent tits. Just saying." Himawari turned a dark red and without giving him a chance to raise a hand in defense, slapped him hard enough that Hizashi and Hiashi heard it as clear as day. The Kusa ninja dropped like a stone and not a second later she was announced winner of the first match. As she was being led back to the shack with the other competitors she realized that she had slapped him with a chakra charged hand and had either scrambled the chakra in his brain or closed a few tenketsu by accident.

Naruto greeted her with a bear hug when she was ushered in. "That was great! You took him down with one hit! Way to show off!" Himawari gave him an uneasy smile. "What if it was too short? I didn't mean to knock him out with that… hit. I kind of lost my temper." Naruto just laughed. "Don't worry! Any judge can see that you are not to be messed with in close combat!" He said the last part as a whisper to avoid the many eavesdroppers in the shack that were trying to look as if they were not doing that very action. Glancing towards the judge's shack she saw Jiraiya give her a double thumbs up and didn't know if she should be even more ashamed of her battle. Instead she just groaned and hoped something exciting happened in the next battle and everyone would forget the opening fight.

It was just her luck that the next battle was rather intense. It was two Kusa shinobi facing off and Himawari marvelled at the little differences in their fighting styles. It was not often a ninja got to observe the fighting style of another country unless they were fighting each other to the death. Making the journey to watch other exams every six months sounded like it might be a good hobby to consider taking up. Beside her Naruto was grinning like mad. Himawari could tell he was totally in his element. The blonde was her best friend and she saw him in all sorts of environments, but this one seemed to fit him the best. She had yet to see him fight seriously but she had heard through the grape vine that he was just as good, if not better as his brother had been at that age and was going to be a legend in the making.

Naruto gripped a few links in the fence as he watched the battle in front of him. They were the second to last of the competitors to fight, which meant he was next and he was excited. His blood was already pumping and he couldn't wipe the grin off of his face. He couldn't wait to bust out moves he had been developing with his brothers, including one he was super excited to finally be able to show off. The match ended abruptly as the taller Kumo shinobi who he had run into several times in the village during the first test landed a knockout blow on the girl from Kusa he had been fighting. He saw that the boy was a lightning user, and filed that information away for later.

After the field had been cleared of people Naruto finally saw his name flash on the board and gave Himawari an excited grin. This was his chance to shine. He had to hold himself back from running out into the field. After making his way to the centre, walking around the holes that previous fights had made, he waited and watched as a shorter looking boy who appeared to be about 12 or 13 made his way to where he was standing. The boy was wearing a black tank top and grey baggy pants with lots of pockets. His hair was long, but tied back in a ponytail and he had his hiteate tied around his waist like a belt. Naruto noted the four squiggles on his headband indicating that he was from Kirigakure and thus was likely a suiton user if he had been taught to use elements yet. The boy smiled politely at him and the blonde returned the smile.

The proctor raised his arm and let it drop and all of a sudden Naruto was pushed back by a flurry of blows that he didn't even see coming. He managed to block most of them and get a few in of his own, but the kid's speed surprised him and caught him off guard. Had he glanced over at Jiraiya he would have seen him leaning over to chat with a woman who looked fiercely proud.

Naruto finally spotted a small opening and took his chance. He curled his hand into a fit and flattened it slightly so his knuckles had more of a point to them and jammed them right into the boy's ribs. The boy stooped low and rolled away before Naruto could land another hit. He stood up breathing heavily and holding his ribs while Naruto regained his stance, but barely had to catch his breath at all. Both of them were sweating like they were stuck in a sauna. The sun was high above them and beating down hard.

Barely a second had passed before Naruto rushed the boy feinting with a punch to his head, before dropping at the last second and sweeping his legs out. The boy managed to jump mostly out of the way, Naruto felt the bottom of his shoes brush against his leg as he abandoned the sweep and used his low position to reveal a kunai he had hidden near his waist. The boy's eyes widened for a fraction of a second as the kunai suddenly took on a hazy appearance as Naruto used what he had 'learned' from his brother and gave the blade a fuuton edge. Naruto jammed the kunai into the thigh of the boy and was mildly surprised to feel the blade pass through the boy's leg as if he had been cutting butter. The blade came mostly out the back of the thigh with a small spray of blood and a loud cry from the boy.

As the boy faltered and tried to pull the blade out from the back and stop the bleeding from the front, Naruto finished his ducking motion and rolled to his feet. He aimed a quick punch to the back of the boy's head intending on finishing the fight, but was interrupted by the boy swiping at his arm with the kunai he had just pulled out of his leg. A thin looking gash appeared on Naruto's arm and he pulled his fist back. The boy spun to face him, holding the kunai out in front of him with one hand and holding the front of his leg with the other hand. He looked slightly panicked.

Namikaze Naruto decided to be nice and gave the boy a full ten seconds to sort himself right before engaging in a showy flash of taijutsu. This was supposed to be a show after all. He kicked and punched and pulled twisting manoeuvres seemingly out of his pockets. A masterful blend of his brother's fighting style and his own unpredictable style. Naruto could tell after a few minutes though that the boy was starting to tire. A combination of the blonde not letting him catch his breath or finish any of his jutsu (Naruto would reach in and hit his hands apart) and the wound on his leg that was still bleeding, the boy was just about ready to throw in the towel.

The blonde spun on his heel intending on finally taking the boy out with a heavy blow to the back of the neck. But just as he started to raise his arm the younger boy, realizing this was probably his last chance to do some damage, managed to sneak an elbow into the bottom of Naruto's ribs on the left side of his chest. Naruto felt fire race up his chest and arm where the boy hit, which was directly on the large scar that was still not fully healed. He still managed to strike the boy, knocking him down and out of commission, but he barely heard his name being announced and the clamour of the audience through the fire that was stealing his breath. The blonde finally coughed after a few moments and spit out a bit of blood. Looking grimly at the red phlegm in the dirt he wiped his mouth and headed back towards the shack where Himawari was looking happy but concerned.

He was greeted by the Hyuuga as well as by a medic nin that was acting as a supervisor for the competitors shack. "Take off your shirt please." The medic said and Naruto looked at her. "Woah, you haven't even told me your name yet." He gave the medic a gaudy grin and she just rolled her eyes. Himawari clicked her tongue and Naruto pulled his t-shirt over his head. The scar that was splayed across the top right section of his chest was red and angry looking where the boy from Kirigakure elbowed him. Naruto saw a few of the other competitors looking at his scar with faces that showed ranging emotions from curiosity to a grimace. Himawari was more part of the grimacing group.

She had seen the scar many times but it always tugged at her heart that he had almost died and would likely continue to have small problems with his lung for as long as he was a shinobi. The medic's hands lit up in the familiar warm green light and she placed them over the scar. Closing her eyes she moved them slightly up after a few moments before releasing the chakra and instructed Naruto to put his shirt back on.

After the blonde's shirt was in place the medic said, "All he did was aggravate the scar tissue in your lung. Nothing permanent and nothing that will stop the healing that is already taking place. Are you aware of the foreign chakra that is lingering around your chakra system near your lungs?" Naruto nodded. "Yea, chakra poisoning. It's why it's taking so long to heal. The chakra saved my life but ripped up my pathways around my lung, if my doctors are to be believed." The medic looked slightly interested, but not enough to ask. She just nodded and shooed him back into the main area of the shack. A girl with hair so blonde it appeared almost white watched him move to the back of the shack and quietly made her way a few steps back.

She watched Naruto mumble something to Himawari before saying quietly, "Um, I don't want to be rude, but I saw that you had a scar on your back too. Can I ask what happened?" Naruto glanced at her and saw a slightly disturbing amount of intensity in her large green eyes. He gave a small nervous chuckle and quickly glanced at his partner, but she was too busy watching the girl for hostile intentions. "Uh, sure I can tell you I guess. I was on a mission and got caught in the middle of a fight. I took a bamboo spear through my chest. Luckily my brother's girlfriend knows how to think on her feet and saved my life." The girl sucked her breath in through her teeth and straightened her posture. She started to ask him more questions about little things like his name, his age, and Himawari watched the entire thing with a closed mouth and an intense stare. An unfamiliar feeling was starting to well up in her stomach and she didn't know what it was. The audience started to cheer again and the Hyuuga's attention was brought back to the arena. The proctor had started speaking again.

"Wow what a fight! Let's recap the winners of the first round before we take a 15 minute break and move to round two!" The proctor listed off the names, starting with Himawari's and ending with Naruto's and then pointed to the large signboard that now had a large clock counting down from fifteen on it instead of names. Himawari grabbed Naruto's hand, interrupting the conversation and said, "C'mon Naruto-kun. I can see Minato-san coming this way." Naruto smiled at the blonde girl and apologized quickly before letting the Hyuuga lead him away.

* * *

End Chapter 24

Sorry this one took a bit longer! The weather finally broke out into summer and I was enjoying the sun! It's been nothing but clouds and rain for the past few months so I couldn't resist! I also want to apologize for the fight scenes, I am awful with them and I hope they are easy to follow in the very least!


	25. Round Two

Chapter 25

* * *

Himawari pulled Naruto out back behind the shed and stopped. Naruto glanced around and saw his brother sitting in the stands waving at him. Obito sat beside him waving at him as well. Glancing at Himawari he saw she was avoiding his gaze and blushing slightly.

"Hey, I thought you said that Ni-san was coming down here?" Himawari's face darkened. "U-um, sorry I thought I saw him." Naruto narrowed his eyes. Something was up. "What's wrong?" He asked and Himawari pushed a small stone away with her foot. She took a step back towards the shed blocking her view of the blonde's brother and Naruto took a step forward as well, not really getting what was going on. "U-um, nothing! I mean, I just wanted to make sure you were really ok. I know guys are tough but I saw that you spit up some blood in there. My eye sight might be worse than it usually is, but it was still enough to see that." Naruto grimaced and let his body posture relax.

Crossing his arms he said, "I'm fine, you heard what the medic said, I just knocked a piece of scar tissue around." Himawari heard the soft chiding in his voice. She knew he hated being coddled like his brother loved to do to him, but she couldn't help it. He was just so pigheaded sometimes. He must have seen the worry on her face increase because he reached out and grabbed her hand, bring his other hand softly on top of it as he held it out in front of him. He gave her a small smile and said, "I'm fine, really." Himawari felt like she was floating. The gods only knew how much she loved this boy. Why did she have to be the one to marry Hiashi? She knew there were other girls in the family her age and a bit older. She also knew, with more than a touch of bitterness, that of the girls her age she was the only one with a Byakugan viable enough for combat. The other girls were too diluted with outside genes to be of much use in that area. She suspected the council had chosen her so the future clan heirs would have a better chance of being the strong fighters they were expected to be.

The single worst part about her feelings for the blonde was that he knew about all of them and still claimed that his love for her was as strong as ever, but as a best friend and a brother. She was his family and he would do anything for her, even kill, but he would never love her the way she loved him and her world seemed a little dimmer for it. She remembered what the feeling in the shed towards the blonde girl was now. She had felt it a long time ago when she watched Hiashi and Hizashi play when she was younger. They would always tell her that some things were for brothers only and that no girls were allowed. While the second part she had been angry about at the time, the first part, as an only child, was a feeling she was loathe admit. Jealousy.

Immediately the shame and guilt flooded her and her face must have shown all of them because Naruto was suddenly up close asking her softly what was wrong. Himawari felt tears start to burn the back of her eyes and she quickly shifted her thoughts to something other than her looming future.

"Right! Look, we have five more minutes; I was going to ask you about what you observed about my next opponent. I just got a little side tracked with my thoughts, sorry." Naruto pulled back and put a thoughtful finger to his chin. He knew his partner was lying to him, but he didn't have time to dwell on it now. Giving his chin a tap he spoke.

"Yes, he was the Kusa one with the brown pants. He looked to be fairly decent in taijutsu, but obviously a ninjutsu user primarily. He seemed to be averse to striking his last opponent, a girl, very hard so use that to your advantage. No one really saw anything that gave your fighting style other than that punch, although it could be called a lucky hit, so you should be able to surprise him a little bit at least." Himawari was rapt. She had heard him talk about how fights on his missions could have gone better with his brother before and it was amazing how he was able to pick apart fights with great detail and suggest possible counters. The Hyuuga was always impressed with his field skill.

"He's a doton type so watch for that. Do you know what type you are? I can't remember." Himawari shrugged and said, "I don't really use a lot of ninjutsu so I haven't really had to go ahead and find out. I think I'm a doton user as well though, both of my parents are as far as I know." Naruto was mildly surprised. Hinata was a suiton user and he knew that elemental types were mainly inherited so she must have gotten it from Hiashi.

Naruto tapped his lip again. "He's not very tall, so don't be afraid to use your weight against him. Other than that, do your best Hima-hime, I hope I get to fight you in the end." Naruto ended his briefing with a large smile and Himawari couldn't help but be infected by it. Glancing at the clock she saw that they had just less than five minutes left and decided to wait it out in the shed where the white-blonde girl struck up conversation with Naruto.

The blonde knew that Himawari was staring at her with jealousy in her eyes, but she wasn't entirely sure why. The blonde boy she had been talking to, Naruto he said his name was, interested her a lot. He radiated confidence in a different way from the rest of the competitors, and his bright colouring was like a magnet to her. She was from Kirigakure and while it was hauntingly beautiful in its own way, it was very cool coloured. Everything looked washed out from the mist. She had been listening to the blonde talk about something his brother had done when a loud toll sounded and everyone's attention was turned towards the arena. Naruto's partner, whose name escaped her at the moment, looked pale and slightly green.

Naruto stepped around the blonde girl who told him her name was Aya, and gave Himawari a brilliant grin to reassure her. She still looked pale, but she managed to smile along with him. It was hard not to. Aya wasn't even in their exchange and she caught herself smiling. She quickly dropped most of it and watched as Himawari and Naruto exchanged a few words before her name was called and the Hyuuga stepped out into a stadium, cheered on by the majority of the villagers eager for a lengthy fight. Naruto fell back to stand beside her, but his attention was solely on his partner.

Himawari tried to remember what Naruto had told her about her opponent. He was only a few inches taller than her and slight in build. He looked slightly off-put that he had to fight another girl. The proctor raised and dropped his arm and Himawari rushed in, intending on putting on a good show of closing tenketsu. Her opponent was surprisingly fast; Himawari only managed to close 4 of his tenketsu before he slammed his hands together and smashed one of his feet on the ground causing large walls of earth to spring up in front of her. One of them caught her shoulder and sent her flying back. Luckily it was nothing more than a glancing blow and she rolled back onto her feet. Running through the ninjutsu she knew in her head, she realized it was pathetically few and silently cursed the Hyuuga clan for their arrogance. If she had children they would be encouraged to learn outside of the clan if she could do anything about it.

Her white eyes were open wide and the veins near her temples were standing out against her skin, making her look angry and fearsome. She darted around the walls and lashed out with her hands towards his torso, but her wrists were knocked back by another branch of earth that seemed to have come out of nowhere. Himawari grimaced at the shooting pain that she felt in one of her wrists, but instead of pulling them back she pointed her index and middle finger and shot out pure chakra out of the tenketsu there. The teenager from Kusa wasn't expecting anything like this and didn't have time to react. The tendril of chakra lashed out like a whip and struck him across his forearm.

The teen struck out with his foot trying to kick Himawari away so she jumped back to regain her balance and give her wrist a rest. She was sure it wasn't broken, but she was already imagining the bruise she'd have tomorrow. The teen used the few seconds of respite to flash his hands through a technique and a spike of adrenalin shot through Himawari when he called out, "Boiling earth jutsu!" and hopped backwards. She could feel the temperature of the ground raise almost immediately through her sandals and she quickly jumped to the top of one of the walls and tossed a kunai at the teen. He dodged, but his hands were still together and his face was looking apprehensive. She saw the patch of dirt she had been standing on start to steam a little bit, but nothing happened after a long few seconds. The teen cried out, "What!" before Himawari used her body weight to deliver a jump kick from her spot on the small wall directly into his chest. The teen was thrown back hard enough that he cleared nearly half the arena and smashed into the chain link fence. The crowd cheered.

The chakra tendril was something she had come up with to use in emergencies due to its tendency to use too much chakra. It essentially worked the same way as her fingers did to close chakra points but it didn't require physical contact. She had closed off the main tenketsu to his hand. He was lucky the ground didn't just blow up.

The Hyuuga didn't give the Kusa teen time to recover and moved in for a flurry of calculated blows, intent on sealing the rest of his tenketsu before taking him out. The teen put up a good fight though. By the time she had sealed the last tenketsu on his arms she was covered in cuts, bruises, and the edge of her jacket was singed from an explosion tag he had tried to stick on her. The teen was panting, sweating, and bleeding when she was done. There were little red welts where his tenketsu had been sealed, lining his arms and upper chest. By this point he had lost most of the use of his arms. He let himself fall to his knees where Himawari quickly chopped her hand into the side of his neck knocking him out and winning the fight. She gazed tiredly up at the crowd and saw Hiashi and Hizashi both standing, Hizashi was shouting and throwing his hands up in the air, but Hiashi just caught her eyes and nodded once, a ghost of a smile on his face. Himawari blushed and let herself be led back to the shed.

Naruto was all smiles and enthusiasm when she made her way into the shack. She had to be checked over by the medic to make sure nothing was too serious before being allowed to rest on the bench at the back. "That was amazing! Way to go, Hima-hime!" The blonde said; his grin so wide she was sure it must be ripping some muscles. Himawari just nodded and smiled faintly. The fight had lasted well over fifteen minutes and she just wanted to sit down. Before Naruto had a chance to join her, the next pair of names were called, and she spied her partner wishing the blonde girl good luck. As tempting as it was to close her eyes she forced them open. If the girl won this fight she would be facing Himawari next round.

Naruto sat down beside her, but he was very interested in Aya's fight. Her first round was short and sweet, as her opponent looked like he had been forced to compete and was too young and not nearly as ready as she had been. This opponent, a young woman who looked to be a bit older than Himawari, was the last remaining Kusa ninja in the competition. As Naruto knew from her previous fight she preferred flashy lightning jutsu in an effort to impress the judges.

Aya was better than she had initially looked though. Her weapon of choice was a spool of wire that she laced with her chakra and made it behave similarly to how puppet users controlled their weapons. The struggle between the two was fierce and loud, due to the small explosions the Kusa kunoichi liked to produce, but after a few minutes, it was obvious the Kusa kunoichi was more bark than bite. Her numerous explosions had used up most of her chakra, and Aya hindered almost every movement she tried to make, tripping her up, whipping her hard enough to leave small welts and cuts, and generally frustrating the hell out of the other girl. When Aya finally got bored of making the Kusa girl look like a fool, she yanked on her cord hard enough to pull the other girl down to her knees and delivered a harsh kick to her head, the sound of it resonating throughout the entire arena. The proctor raised his hands and the crowd cheered. Aya barely had a scratch on her. Himawari watched her carefully.

Naruto on the other hand stood up and practically vibrated. It was his turn next and he was fighting someone who had had his eye since the day he arrived in the village.

"Namikaze Naruto and Hirai Sho, please make your way to the centre of the arena." Naruto nearly ran, but he forced himself to walk. He watched the Kumo ninja whom he had bumped into several times follow him out. The scar he had previously seen was looking more and more like a burn scar the longer he took it in. Sho was obviously uncomfortable with the blonde's staring so Naruto reluctantly looked the boy right in the eye. He was taller than Naruto by a few inches, but looked to be about the same age, possibly a bit older. His partner, the shorter younger boy had been knocked out by Aya in the first round.

They bowed to each other, a sign of respect, before waiting for the proctor to drop his arm. As soon as he did, Naruto's vision was filled with fire. He jumped back and patted his shirt and hair out. Running a hand through his hair he scowled. He'd have to get a haircut after this fight to even out what Sho's jutsu burned away. Naruto was already running his hands through several seals by the time Sho's breath was started to run out, and he barely had time to take in a breath when a stream of water splashed into his face and upper chest and knocked him back a few metres.

Sputtering he jumped to his feet, his ring and pinkie fingers on each hand lying flat against his palm, and his middle and index fingers pointed. His thumbs were stuck straight out. He called out a name of a jutsu that was lost among the clamour of the crowd and made throwing motions with his hands still held in those positions. Fire balls the size of basketballs appeared out of nowhere and hurled themselves at Naruto. The blonde jumped in the air, using miniature versions of his wind cutter to push the fire away from him as they got near. Air is naturally weak to fire, so as he sliced the balls with the blades coming from a combination of his hands and feet, each one puffed up to twice its size before rapidly dying. The effect was amazing, and after each fireball diverted, the crowd gave a satisfied shout.

The blonde used his momentum to flip once as he started to fall back to earth and charged his feet with a very dull wind blade. He didn't want to cut this guy in half after all. Sho rolled out of the way just as Naruto landed, taking a fraction of a second to observe the crater he had created. Still on the ground he flung a rough version a fire whip at the blonde who was momentarily distracted by his foot that was stuck in the ground. Naruto saw the whip a moment too late and yelled in pain as it struck him across the back, leaving a large welt that was already started to form blisters. Both Himawari and Minato cried out with him, but were ignored among the crowd's cheers and shouts.

Naruto finally pulled his foot out of the crater and spun to face Sho. His back was burning with pain, especially since the tip of it had come into contact with his scar. Wiping his mouth of the dust and saliva that had mixed to form a gritty mud he said, with a tight voice, "Heh, good one. I didn't peg you for a fire user. You know with the…" He motioned at his face and Sho just raised his eye brows. "This," Sho copied Naruto's motions sarcastically, "was just a stupid and painful mistake. I'm better than that now." Naruto nodded and gave the Kumo ninja a smile that spoke of respect. The blonde was anything but a vengeful fighter.

Secretly though, he was grateful to Sho for letting him have a few seconds to collect his thoughts. Sho was agile, but not as fast as him. His fire jutsu would obviously trump his wind most of the time, and that water jutsu he had used early on required more moisture than what was left in the pond for him to collect. It was also not his nature and not worth the chakra to use repeatedly. Sho rushed forward with a chakra charged fist that threatened to slam into Naruto's face. Naruto dodged and threw his own right hook, but Sho dodged as well. The teens continued this game, neither of them landing any significant blows until Naruto tripped on a rock and Sho landed a painful blow to his jaw. Naruto used the momentum to roll away and still grimacing from the brain-rattling blow held out his hand and collected chakra into the very middle of his palm. Minato sat at the edge of his seat, causing Kushina to look at him weirdly.

Naruto had been working on this jutsu since before he had gotten out of the hospital as a training exercise. Minato had said he had been inspired by the pure chakra he had made explode under the burning building months beforehand, and with Naruto helping him 'invent' the ways to control it, they had perfected the technique in a little under six months. Minato had yet to use it in combat, but Naruto knew exactly what he was doing. The familiar rush of pure chakra swirling around in his hand came with a rush of memories, but he was able to keep them at bay for this fight. Sho looked at his hand with a sickened sort of curiosity before starting to prepare his own technique to counter.

By the time Sho had finished his hand signs, Naruto was already done. Raising his hand the blonde shouted, with a glorious sense of accomplishment, "RASENGAN!" and _threw_ the ball of chakra at Sho. It hit him square in the chest and exploded with a loud bang. The crowd cheered louder than ever, including Minato and Jiraiya, the only others who were able to use it so far. When the dust cleared, Sho lay perfectly still up against the chain link fence. Naruto was declared the winner, but he almost didn't hear it. Walking over to Sho he saw the teen start to stir, and when he opened his eyes Naruto held out a hand. "Damn man, you are hard to beat." He said, and Sho grinned, taking his hand and letting the blonde pull him up. "And here I thought you were just some stupid blonde." Naruto laughed and helped Sho onto the stretcher that had been rushed out. Sho laid back and closed his eyes raising his hand in a gesture of respect towards Naruto. The blonde carefully made his way back to the shed where a medic was waiting to look at his burns.

* * *

End Chapter 25

I hope these fight scenes are interesting! I'm really bad at them: P. Sorry this took so long, I've been sick, but I'm better now! Next chapter is the final two fights!


	26. Final Rounds!

Chapter 26

* * *

"What the hell was _that_?" Kushina said when the din of the crowd died down a little bit. There was a short break at the moment; a rest for the final four fighters and a chance for new bets to be placed. Minato grinned before pulling his eyes away from the small crater that his brother's foot had created. He glanced over at his beautiful girlfriend and almost laughed at her raised eyebrow.

"That," Minato started, "is the rasengan. A jutsu I thought of a while ago and Naruto helped me finish it. He was really helpful actually; he must have been thinking something similar since it was something he did that inspired me." Kushina glanced back down at the arena. Minato continued, sounding cheerful and proud, "It's made of pure chakra so you need larger reserves, but it packs a punch. All of the trees we tested it on are mostly sawdust."

Kushina whistled. Pure chakra that was visible like that with enough control to throw it, all at the age of 14. Naruto was going to grow up to be a monster. Kushina smiled. He might even rival her natural reserves one day. Glancing over at Minato's brood she saw Obito and Rin talking excitedly about the fight and felt a small sliver of relief when she saw their third teammate, while he wasn't talking, he was clearly involved in the conversation, nodding every once in a while when he agreed with something. Leaps and bounds from when she first met the boy a week ago. The dark bags still hung heavily under his eyes, but ever since the day she had pushed Himawari a little bit too far, he seemed a little less severe.

* * *

Down in the dusty shed Naruto sighed and sat down. His fight had not even last ten minutes, but now that the adrenalin was fading away he felt like it had lasted ten hours. His back ached and burned from the welt. The medic had healed it enough that it felt more like a moderate sunburn with a few small blisters. Both Aya and Himawari were trying to talk to him, but Himawari was edging around directly talking to the wispy haired girl. Aya looked confused but didn't mention it.

Naruto raised his hands and said quite smoothly in his opinion, "Ladies, ladies. Please. I'm fine, there's no need to worry. I'm still able to go all day long." He finished with a wink that was directed at both of them and was satisfied with the results. Himawari blushed fiercely and turned her gaze while Aya laughed loudly.

Aya recovered first leaning forward with interest. "What was that you did back there?" Naruto smiled proudly. Being able to use the rasengan in public again was a huge relief. It was his favourite jutsu, perhaps one of the few gifts he had received from his father in his other life.

"It's called the rasengan." Naruto said, "I helped my brother develop it while I was recovering from my last mission." Aya looked immensely curious. She started to ask him questions about it but Naruto feigned her off claiming that it was probably not prudent to reveal his techniques until after the competition. He then went and said something that would continue to plague Himawari for the next couple of days. "We could talk about it over lunch tomorrow if you want?" Aya had immediately agreed and Himawari felt her heart writhe with jealousy. She was going to kick this stupid blonde girl's ass if it was the last thing that she did.

* * *

Withdrawing from the conversation the Hyuuga gazed out at the clock. Three minutes until the proctor would call her name and she could take her frustrations out on something. She watched the seconds tick down slowly, and when there was just less than 30 seconds left, a hand gripped her shoulder. Himawari started and turned to see Naruto foxy grin stretched across his face. His eyes were not closed as they usually were when he grinned, but open and staring her straight into her own milky eyes. He lowered his voice and said, "Aya is friendly, but she's not you. Kick her ass. I fully expect to see you in the finals." His confidence in her inspired a small fire in her gut. She clenched her fists and nodded, giving him a small grin of her own. Of course he wouldn't toss her aside. They were family.

Then the blonde did something that Himawari would relive in her dreams for years. He leaned in and gave her a chaste kiss. "For luck." He said. Her heart jumped into her throat and her stomach flipped upside down. Before she had a chance to react the buzzer rang and Naruto turned her around and gave her a shove out towards the door of the shed. Aya had already started walking out onto the field.

She made her way out to the centre of the arena robotically. All she could think about was the way his lips felt on hers and the way he smelled like sunshine, sweat, and dirt. Glancing back at the blonde he was smiling proudly and she felt her determination swell. She'd show him how good of a kunoichi she was. She bowed when her name was called, as did Aya, and settled into the standard stance of the gentle fist. The proctor raised his arm, paused, and let it drop.

Both girls moved immediately. Himawari rushed towards her opponent, while Aya moved backwards, fiddling with a kunai and her spool of wire. The blonde girl sent the kunai flying past Himawari, missing her by a few feet but the quiet _thunk_ the Hyuuga heard let her know that it had struck the single tree in the arena. Himawari activated her Byakugan and was submerged in the high contrast black and white world. A short moment of dizziness passed quickly as her brain switched from seeing the world with a limited field of view to going to nearly 360 vision. Aya's chakra laden wire whipped out at her, intent on slowing her down or giving her welts at the very least.

Himawari caught the wire and with a burst of scalpel like chakra from her finger tips she severed the connection and the wire fell limp to the ground. _Good_. She thought; it had been exactly like she had suspected. She controlled the wire the same way puppet users controlled puppets, albeit since she was in contact with the wire most of the time she had a bit more manoeuvrability. If Aya was surprised, she didn't show it. Her face was tight with concentration, but held no anger or worry.

Aya wiggled her fingers and the wire came alive. Himawari jumped over it and took a swipe at the blonde girl. Aya raised her elbow to block and Himawari closed the tenketsu from her elbow to her shoulder before the other girl managed to swing her other fist around, catching Himawari off guard. The result was both girls jumping back from one another, Aya holding her mostly useless left arm and Himawari touching her left eye gingerly. In the morning she was likely to have a large black eye.

It was as if losing her arm stoked a fire in the blonde. Her attacks with the wire came harder, more often, and with multiple ends at once. Himawari was finding it harder and harder to keep all of them away. Her legs, back, and arms were covered in small welts; some were deep enough to have drawn blood. Aya was not uninjured though. Himawari had managed to seal the rest of her arm up and half of her leg as well. She had gotten in a few pokes on her torso. If the amount of sweat that was pouring off the girl was any kind of indication of how much pain she must be feeling from them as well as the effort of keeping her chakra mixing evenly, she didn't know what was.

Himawari was running out of chakra though. Aya was a long distance fighter and the Hyuuga found it a challenge to get close enough to do direct damage. Much of her chakra had been wasted on the wire and other thrown objects. Sweat was pouring off of her as well, stinging the welts on her back.

Rushing in again, Himawari saw the lag in Aya's actions and took advantage of an opening she had created. Slamming an open handed palm into the back of the girl's ribs Aya screamed hoarsely. She dropped to one knee and swiped out of her kunai, catching Himawari deeply in the leg. Himawari let out a yelp of pain and pressed her hand over the bleeding gash. Aya tried swiping at her again with the blade but Himawari met Aya's wrist with her knee, sending the kunai clattering on the ground.

Suddenly Himawari's world had colour and for a dizzying second the world tilted, putting her off balance. _Dammit, of all times to run out of chakra…_ She still had enough chakra to close a few more tenketsu… If she could reach the girl's head or neck she could knock Aya out.

Aya was sliding in the dirt as fast as she could away from the Hyuuga. She wanted to hold her throbbing side, but her other hand was hanging uselessly in front of her. Her leg was dragging unfeelingly through the dirt as well. A small part of her mind was afraid that she would never be able to use them again and that her shinobi career ended here in front of hundreds of people. Pushing the fear away she saw the Hyuuga girl recover her stance from whatever had been affecting her and she pinched her face. She had one last thing up her sleeve.

Himawari took a step towards Aya with her hand outreached. Her fingers were blazing with the last bit of chakra she had left. She was not even a foot from the girl when Aya tossed a handful of wire fragments at her face. Had her eyes been active, Himawari would have seen the subtle motion of Aya's arm and could have prevented herself from flinching. However, she did not. She jerked her arms over her face to protect her eyes. The wire fragments wrapped themselves around her raised arms and Himawari saw Aya reach for another wire lying on the ground.

Aya grabbed the wire that was attached to the kunai thrown into the tree at the beginning of the match. She knew Himawari had forgotten about it. Yanking it taught so it wasn't touching the ground anymore, Aya gritted her teeth and said, "Sting of the Ten Tails jutsu!" Electricity coursed through her relatively painlessly since she was grounded by the tree and knew how to direct it, but it passed right into the wires wrapped around Himawari's arms.

Himawari's mind was screaming in place of her mouth that felt locked shut along with the rest of her body. For a few agonizing seconds, Himawari jerked and stood still until Aya ran out of steam and released the technique. Himawari sagged to her knees and slumped forward. She didn't lose consciousness but she couldn't move. Angry tears came unbidden to her eyes. She watched as Aya struggled to her feet, a challenge with only one of them functioning, and saw her smiled tiredly when the proctor announced the winner of the match.

When they loaded her onto the stretcher, she managed to see Naruto's face. The Hyuuga had been afraid to see disappointment written across it, but when all she was pride and a huge thumbs up she burst into tears. The paralyzing effect had worn off her extremities mostly by now and she draped her arm over her eyes to hide them from the medics.

* * *

Aya managed to drag herself back to the shed where she sat, tired and sore, as the medic checked her over, but was unable to do much for her besides relieve some of the pain. Her arm was starting to feel like pins and needles were poking her and she was half relieved that whatever the Hyuuga had done it wasn't permanent.

Naruto was going to say something to her, but he saw her rest her head against the wall with her eyes closed and decided not to. He felt conflicted. He was very proud of how Himawari had done, but he felt a little bad that he was impressed by Aya as well. He had just met her, but she had been nothing but friendly and interesting to talk to. In all honestly, he hadn't expected her win. With just her wire techniques the fight had gone mostly how he thought it would have gone, but that last technique… He was impressed and eager to fight her, although it looked like she might have fainted if he breathed on her. He didn't have time to think about it anymore as the proctor called his name out along with his opponent.

Walking out towards the centre of the arena, he glanced back at the shed to see who his opponent was, but was mildly surprised to see no one. The remaining people in the shed were competitors that had lost but didn't require medical attention. Naruto stood in the centre of the arena as the proctor called the other name several times, before declaring Naruto winner by default. The crowd expressed the disappointment Naruto had felt. The proctor had announced that they were doubling the rest period in between rounds to give Aya a chance to breath since Naruto didn't have to fight and the blonde boy took off down to the infirmary.

Turning the corner into a large room that buzzing quietly with conversation, he carefully peeked into each curtained 'room'. Himawari was in the last one underneath a small window. He pulled the curtains back with a large smile and was going to say something to the Hyuuga girl when he noticed she wasn't alone. Standing beside her bed were two identical looking men. All three Hyuuga swung their gaze over to the blonde whose smile dropped a fraction. Quickly apologizing he backed out of the 'room' and promised to come see her after his last fight. He disappeared before Himawari had a chance to say anything.

* * *

"That was your partner?" Himawari glanced at the brothers. For a second she wasn't sure who had said that, but the coolness of the question left her almost no doubt it was Hiashi. She tilted her head down slightly. "Yes, I don't think he's met anyone from out clan save my parents." Hiashi nodded slightly, but Hizashi was still looking in his direction.

Crossing his arms, the younger twin asked, "What was his name again? Namiruto?" "Namikaze Naruto." Himawari replied, "He's Namikaze Minato-san's younger brother." Hizashi snapped his finger. "Right, right." He said, "I remember Minato-san from his Jounin exams a few years ago. Pretty damn impressive for a teenager. He took out nearly everyone who fought him. It seems his brother is trying to follow in his footsteps." Himawari nodded slightly and tightened her fingers around the stems of the flower bunch on her lap.

Hiashi and Hizashi appeared shortly after her leg had been stitched up. She could sit herself up now but her legs and parts of her hands were still mostly numb. Hiashi had awkwardly presented her with the bouquet and she almost dropped it. The most interesting part about the interaction was that she saw Hiashi's ears darken as Hizashi laughed at them both. She hoped it was embarrassment over anger; she didn't want Hizashi getting into trouble.

She had managed to make small talk with the Hyuuga men for the better part of half an hour but when the booming voice of the proctor announced that the final fight was to be taking place in 5 minutes Himawari swung her legs over the edge of her bed.

Hizashi grabbed her arm and said with a worried voice, "Woah, Himawari-chan, where are you going?" Himawari shrugged her arm out of his grip and said, "Where do you think? Do you really think I'm going to miss Naruto avenging me?" She didn't mean to sound quite so spiteful about it, but to her surprise it was Hiashi who let out a small chuckle. He held out an arm for her and waited for Himawari to loop her own arm through it.

Hoisting her up Himawari could barely walk but with a twin on either side of her she had no problem making her way to a section of fence to watch the fight. Hizashi pulled away to get a better view himself and the sudden shift it weight made Hiashi move his arm down to her waist. Himawari barely noticed. Naruto was standing in the centre of the arena opposite Aya who looked bedraggled but a lot more energetic than she did when she had finished their fight. They both bowed and the proctor raised his arm and let it drop.

She had expected Naruto to go straight in for the kill but instead he jumped back and waited for Aya to move first. Aya didn't even try to be subtle. She threw a handful of lines out at Naruto as fast and hard as she could. Each line streaked past the blonde as he avoided every single one of them. Aya yanked backwards and Naruto had to dodge them all over again as she continued to whip the lines back and forth. Sweat was pouring off of her already and she had only managed to touch Naruto once, letting him and everyone in the arena know that the lines were already charged with electricity.

After a few minutes of dodging, Himawari realized that Naruto was playing with the girl. Anytime a wire came close he would knock it away with a small burst of air from his palm or his foot, but he had yet to even try to attack Aya. The blonde girl was realizing this as well and frowned.

Aya suddenly dropped her hands down and the wires followed whipping the ground hard enough to create a small dust cloud. As soon as the wires were on the ground she sped off towards him, slipping her kunai out of its holster. Naruto coughed from the dust but it otherwise didn't affect his performance. He caught Aya's wrist and spun her around him before twisting her wrist hard enough to cause her to cry out and drop the Kunai. He contemplated finishing the fight here and now with a rasengan to the gut but hesitated as he didn't want to hurt her more.

The girl from Kiri took advantage of his hesitation and spread all of her fingers out. The wires she had left on the ground suddenly sprung to life and wrapped themselves around both her and Naruto pinning them together. Naruto saw her shut her eyes tightly before realizing what she was intending on doing.

His arms were trapped but his hands weren't. He quickly sped through a few short seals and just as he felt the hair on his body rise in response to the electricity that was rising and voltage he spun on one foot leaking blades of air creating a mini tornado. The blades sliced the wires to ribbons and threw Aya a few feet away where she landed harshly on her back. Using the momentum to roll into a kneeling position she stopped to catch her breath.

Naruto was relatively unaffected. His hair was on end on some parts of his head from the static electricity but he wasn't even sweating. He brushed a few pieces of wire off of him and glanced at Aya. Sweat was pouring off her and every muscle in her body ached. She glanced around at her ruined spool of wire. She had virtually no chakra left and her affinity was naturally weak to his and he had already swatted her limited taijutsu aside like she was a child. Glancing down at her hands she got to her feet and raised her hand.

"I give up. I have nothing left in my arsenal that would be able to do anything." Naruto looked not as shocked as she had expected, but the audience was screaming. She wasn't sure if it was positive or negative, but when the proctor announced Naruto the winner of Kusa's first Chuunin exams they screamed twice as loud. Naruto had made his way over, shook her hand and said, "Still wanna catch lunch?" He grinned widely and Aya smiled. "Of course. After the ceremony?" Naruto nodded and she dragged herself off of the arena with the help of the medic nin.

Himawari had nearly jumped with joy when Naruto was announced the winner. Her legs were still a bit of a mess and she would have fallen over if Hiashi hadn't had her waist in a death grip. She spun to face him, wordlessly making an excited noise to go along with her smile that threatened to split her cheeks. Hiashi gave her a small twitch of his lips and she spun back, her fingers entwined in the fence.

The Hyuuga girl realized that he was being led to the infirmary for a final check up and took a clumsy step backwards. "Oh we have to go back!" She said excitedly. Hizashi helped hoist her up again and the twins half dragged her back to her bed.

She barely beat the blonde back. When he came into the room there was a medic waiting for him to check him over. After she determined that he had sustained no new injuries she drilled into his head how to care for the few blisters that had formed from the burn on his back. Naruto slipped into Himawari's curtain and despite the presence of the older Hyuuga twins the Hyuuga girl took her partner into a tight embrace, being careful to not go too far down his back. When he pulled back she said, "Congratulations! I saw the whole fight!"

Naruto rubbed the back of his head and smiled. "Thanks! It wasn't really much of a fight. Aya was still super tired from her fight with you, so it's really because of you that I won!" Himawari blushed but was unable to say anything further as a spiky black haired head rammed into Naruto at full force knocking some of the breath out of the blonde. A brown haired girl was close behind him, albeit she didn't run into him.

"Teach me that throwy-explosion thing!" Obito said when he pulled his face out of Naruto's stomach. Naruto laughed, but didn't respond as his brother's face appeared through the curtains. "It's a party!" Naruto exclaimed as he saw that the rest of Minato's gang was trailing behind him. The look of utter pride on Minato's face nearly made Naruto cry with joy so he turned to Himawari.

Pulling the black haired boy off of him he said, "I'll meet you back in our room, I need to take a shower really badly. We are doing an early dinner at that restaurant with the green dragons above it." He glanced at Minato who simply said, "4." Naruto turned back to Himawari. "At 4 o'clock. Hyuuga-san you are more than welcome to join us as well." Hiashi and Hizashi both dipped their heads. Himawari wasn't able to get in another word as Minato grabbed his arm and tugged him away. He apparently had some sheets to sign before doing anything.

Himawari was distracted from the sight of Naruto's fleeting back by Obito reaching up and wrapping his arms around her waist, burying his head in the side of her arm and chest. Hiashi narrowed his eyes at the familiarity the Uchiha was showing towards a Hyuuga, but it was ignored by both Himawari and Obito. "Sensei, you were awesome!" Himawari smiled warmly and Obito scampered off after everyone.

Turning to the twins she was slightly surprised to see Hiashi looking at Obito as he left with hardness in his eyes, but her shift in attention was noticed quickly. Looking down slightly in embarrassment she said, "U-um, if it's not too much trouble could I have some help to my room?" Hiashi didn't reply but instead stuck his arm out. He'd have to think about his fiancée's relations later.

* * *

End Chapter 26

Sorry, started university, it's been busy. This will probably be my last chapter for a while until I start procrastinating from studying again. The Chuunin exams have concluded!


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